HD 28.59

The Home Depot's Supplier Social and Environmental Responsibility Program

The Home Depot's Supplier Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) program has evolved from our internal commitment to the highest standards of business conduct. We hold an unwavering dedication to an exemplary code of ethical and responsible conduct in every aspect of our operations and expect the same from our associates and suppliers. We are committed to respecting the rights of individuals and the environment in the countries in which we operate and expect that this commitment is shared by all of our suppliers from whom we source merchandise or services.

Our SER program was established to ensure that our suppliers adhere to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. These standards of behavior relate to workplace and employment conditions, environmental health, and safety standards as established by the existing local laws. Our SER program requires supplier compliance to the following nine main categories:

  • Denial of Access to Audit

  • Age Requirements

  • Forced Labor

  • Wages and Working Conditions

  • Discrimination

  • Emergency Planning

  • Environment Health and Safety

  • Freedom of Expression and Association

  • Fraud

The Home Depot is committed to working with its suppliers to meet the standards outlined in the supplier SER program by providing continuous education to ensure all program requirements are communicated and fully understood. The process of continuous collaboration and engagement with our suppliers to achieve improvement in their operations as we deliver the highest quality products to our customers is an important goal that deserves our attention.

We monitor compliance using independent third party service providers to perform random audits where our suppliers manufacture merchandise for The Home Depot and we actively work with suppliers to implement robust SER programs within their companies. The SER program is an opportunity for us to innovate, collaborate and engage with our suppliers in a continuous improvement process as we strive for overall improvement in performance across all aspects of our supply chain.

5/17/2005