What is SA8000® Standard?
The SA8000® Standard is the world's most widely used social certification standard for factories and organisations. It was founded in 1997 as a multi-stakeholder project by Social Accountability International. The Standard has grown over time into a comprehensive framework that enables certified firms to demonstrate their commitment to fair treatment of workers in all industries and in any countries.
SA8000 assesses social performance in eight key areas of social accountability in the workplace, including a management system component that encourages continual development across the board. It is praised by brands and industry leaders for taking a rigorous approach to ensuring the highest level of social compliance in their supply chains while keeping business interests in mind.
The Standard reflects labor provisions contained within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. It also respects, complements and supports national labor laws around the world, and currently helps secure ethical working conditions for two million workers.
Benefits of SA8000 Certification
An authorised SA8000 certificate is a three-year attestation of an organization's conformity with the SA8000® Standard. An authorised SA8000 certification gives continuing and trustworthy assurance that a company is adhering to social performance standards while also developing management systems to address and mitigate social and labour issues.
SA8000 is a voluntary standard that requires organisations to take responsibility for their performance and to continuously assess and improve their own social controls. Independent monitoring and regular surveillance audits by certified third-party certification bodies provide assurance that the organisation is effectively managing its operations and has a low risk of noncompliance with the Standard.
The following are some of the characteristics of a SA8000-certified organisation:
- To ensure compliance with the Standard, a holistic management system is used.
-
Participation and communication among employees
-
Internal cross-functional collaboration
-
Collaboration throughout the supply chain is beneficial.
While certified accreditation is a useful tool for evaluating performance and driving supply chain improvement by committing a company for three years, it's crucial to remember that no code or monitoring system can guarantee total certainty or drive positive change on its own. All social auditing practises should be viewed as part of a larger effort to improve labour conditions, which should include equitable contractual cooperation between buyers and suppliers, worker and management training, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and a variety of other tools to improve systems and collaboration.