SA 8000 Framework Based Social Compliance Audit

What is the SA8000 Audit

The SA8000 Audit also called Social Audit, is a Corporate Social Responsibility supplier qualification operation which is performed during the sourcing phase aiming to assess the capacity of a supplier to adhere to SA 8000 standard.

It aims to verify the capacity of your potential new supplier to adhere to the SA8000 code of conduct.

See our Supplier Audit Solutions

Why use the SA8000 Audit

With recent scandals of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh,  globalized world became more and more aware of working and living conditions of workers into Asian factories. Big brands, in order to avoid getting their name associated with poor labor condition, source and choose suppliers who follow SA 8000 principles as a guarantee those suppliers will not make their brand name dirty.

Auditing your supplier againt SA 8000 standard allow to evaluate quickly the situation regarding social right issue and to decide wether you should work or not with spoted suppliers you may have identified during the sourcing phase.

In some case, when suppliers are far to comply with SA 8000 standard, our SA 8000 Audit is a first step in the direction of getting certified for SA 8000. Out of the audit itself, we can propose those supplier to implement some corrective action plan on the base of quality consulting mission which are led on several months with consulting mission.

When the SA8000 Audit is occurring

This Supplier Evaluation usully takes place during the sourcing phase, after you have spoted a potential new supplier to manufacture your goods and before you send money to them as deposit. It is normally performed during the sorting phase (qualification phase) of suppliers during the sourcing.

Where the SA8000 Audi is taking place

The SA8000 Audit will takes place at the vendor premises. If your source is a manufacturer it will be made at the factory premise. If your supplier is a trading company there are chances that the auditor get invited to perform its audit at the manufacturing area which they cooperate with for production.

Who conduct the SA8000 Audit

The SA8000 Audit will be performed by a SA8000 qualified and certified auditor.

How does the SA8000 Audit is performed

The SA8000 Auditor will go on site to inspect and audit the working conditions of the worker. A first step will be to hold a meeting with supplier representative to explain them the goal of the audit, after what the auditor will start to audit the manufacturing place.

Some private meeting will be held with random selected workers to evaluate the veracity of the situation.

What the SA8000 Audit is checking

The SA8000 Audit is particularly focusing on :

• Child Labor: Companies should not handle child work.
• Constrained Labor: Companies shoudl not use  “constrained workforce”
• Wellbeing and Safety: Companies should give a safe and healthy working environment for their employees.
• Freedom of Association: Companies should accept the right of their employee to join exchange unions and have the right of bargaining.
• Segregation: Companies should not engage in or support discrimination in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, or political affiliation
• Disciplinary practices: Companies should not take part in or help the utilization of whipping, mental or physical compulsion or verbal ill-use.
• Working time: Companies have to conform to pertinent laws and industry regulation on working hours.
• Payment: Companies must guarantee that wages paid for a standard working week meet lawful or industry rate and norms.
• Administration frameworks: Company management has to define the company’s policy for social accountability and labor conditions to ensure that it includes a commitment to conform to all requirements of this standard and national and other applicable laws.

What is the process for the SA8000 Audit

Conduct SA8000 Audit requires the auditor to take contact with manufacturer to prepare the audit. Once done, the auditor being on site will assess and analyze the working conditions of the workers. He will also operate private meeting with the workers to verify in a neutral and objective way if manufacturer respect SA8000 standard.

After the Audit, manufacturers may want to improve their organization face to SA8000 standard. For those one, we supply consulting mission to prepare corrective action plan and follow up to help them to tend with perfect compliance. On this base they can optimized their chance to be certified by an accredited body