The Walt Disney Company announced that they were taking their factories out of "high risk" countries, after an accident in Bangladesh killed hundred of workers.
In March, the company sent a letter to vendors to transition their products to safer countries, and move out of places like Ecuador, Venezuela, Belarus, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The company expects the move to be complete by April 2014.
"After much thought and discussion we felt this was the most responsible way to manage the challenges associated with our supply chain," said Bob Chapek, president of Disney Consumer Products.
Disney's concerns are the answer to a slew of accidents that have resulted in over 600 deaths. Their decision was reportedly based on assesments by the World Bank, which looked at the way countries were governed, using factors such as accountability, corruption and violence. The five countries Disney is pulling out of scored the last five spots in the list.
Disney plans to keep on working in Haiti and Cambodia, although those countries did not score much better. A representative from the company said they will use factories in partnership with the Better Work program, run by the International Labor Organization and the International Finance Corporation, which pay exhaustive attention to health and safety conditions.
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