U.S. Department of Labor Launches Self-Assessment Tools for Forced and Child Labor- Free Supply Chains

On April 8th, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) announced the launch of a new suite of self-assessment tools to help U.S. companies identify forced and child labor risks in their supply chains. These free and voluntary resources aim to help businesses proactively identify potential human rights abuses as well as risks tied to unfair trade practices in order to safeguard brand reputation and remain competitive in the global market. Here's what you need to know about each of these resources.

LaborShield app shows forced labor risk in more than 145 countries

The Department of Labor (DOL) LaborShield app allows users to identify foreign goods made using forced or child labor, by country. It also identifies whether each country has strong laws in place to counteract forced labor within their borders and provides suggestions for mitigation strategies when human rights abuses are identified.

SourcingStrong provides practical step-by-step guidance and sample supplier questionnaires

SourcingStrong is a step-by-step tool that aims to equip American companies to manage their supply chains by prioritizing ethical labor standards. It provides practical guidance and sample supplier SAQs to help companies reduce their exposure to human rights abuses with 8 cumulative modules:

1. Engage Stakeholders

2. Assess Risks and Impacts

3. Develop a Code of Conduct

4. Communicate and Train Across a Supply Chain

5. Monitoring

6. Remediate Violations

7. Independent Review

8. Report Performance and Engagement

ImportWatch data dashboard enables importers to view ILAB data by country, good and labor exploitation

ImportWatch is a data dashboard to help American companies avoid goods linked to human rights abuses by identifying supply chain risks. The dashboard combines ILAB research with U.S. import data to identify possible high-risk imports, and includes a search function through which importers can view data for all countries, goods and labor exploitations.

Supply Chain Traceability Portal provides news, infographics and updates on high risk goods and materials

Finally, the Supply Chain Traceability Portal provides relevant supply chain infographics, news and updates on high risk goods and materials to help businesses map their supply chains across multiple tiers and trace raw materials back to the source.

Each of ILAB's tools are available to access here.

Sourcemap's supply chain mapping workflows are built to meet U.S. Department of Labor and CBP standards for more transparent and forced labor-free supply chains. To learn more, or to speak with a member of our team of experts, reach out today.