Levi Strauss, H&M to stop carrying sandblasted goods due to health concerns for workers

Levi Strauss and Company is making a serious effort toward worker safety and I am impressed!
Levi Strauss, along with Hennes & Mauritz, will stop selling products that have been sandblasted due to the potential health hazards for factory workers, the companies said Wednesday.

Sandblasting has been used by the clothing industry to give some products a worn look but the process, if done incorrectly, can expose workers to crystalline silica, a compound found in sand. Crystalline silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Dust can enter the lungs and form scar tissue, reducing the ability of the lungs to take in oxygen. Levi Strauss and H&M said they are concerned that some factories, particularly those that make counterfeit products, do not install safeguards to shield workers from possible harm when they are sandblasting.

"We've implemented rigorous standards for sandblasting in our own supply chain but we decided that the best way to help ensure no worker — in any garment factory — faces the risks associated with exposure to crystalline silica is to move to end sandblasting industrywide," said David Love, senior vice president and chief supply chain officer at Levi Strauss & Co.

H&M Production Manager Karl Gunnar Fagerlin said that it will no longer buy or sell sandblasted products because it was too hard to make sure that all of its suppliers and their subcontractors were following proper safety procedures. The two companies said they will immediately stop placing new orders for sandblasted products and will not have any active production of sandblasted items as of Dec. 31.