HP is a founder and member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), the world’s largest industry coalition dedicated to supply chain responsibility. As a full RBA member, we conform to a common Code of Conduct and utilize a range of RBA training and assessment tools to support continuous improvement in the social, environmental and ethical responsibility of our supply chains. We have supplemented the RBA Code of Conduct with additional requirements that extend further in areas we identify as requiring more attention. All suppliers doing business with HP must conform to HP’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
Furthermore, RBA-Online is an online sustainability data management system designed to help RBA members and their suppliers manage and share sustainability data, including from audits and self-assessment questionnaires that assess risk at the corporate, facility and supplier level.
As part of the RBA, we follow an equivalent self-assessment process for the electronics industry to evaluate our sustainability policies and standards. The questionnaire is administered electronically through RBA-ON, an IT platform for companies to effectively implement a standards-based approach for improving supplier conformance to standards related to labor, health, safety, ethics, and environmental activity.
We periodically increase our expectations of suppliers, so suppliers must continually improve to maintain a consistent audit score. For example, in 2018 we adopted version 6.0 of the RBA Code of Conduct, which includes requirements related to worker voice and training, pregnant and nursing women, process chemicals, and water management.
In addition to the audit process, we engage with suppliers through coaching, specialized training, and ongoing data collection and conversations that help suppliers develop robust management systems to address root causes. We summarize supplier performance across multiple dimensions (including audits) using our Sustainability Scorecard.
Moreover, we conduct targeted assessments to supplement our comprehensive audits, focusing on specific risk areas including:
- Vulnerable workers, such as student, dispatch, and foreign migrant workers
- Health and safety, including fire safety and emergency preparedness
- Supplier sustainability management system maturity
- Supplier environmental performance
Please see the RBA Validated Audit Program (VAP) Operations Manual.