Texnora, home furnishing product exporter from India is a SA-8000:2008 Standard certified company, audited by TUV and it is a famous and well-known company for its Social Accountability and ensuring the 100% handful of support in terms of good will, credit, quality, prices, and care to all the stakeholders of the company
Why SA8000: 2008 Social Accountability is most important for the global market?
How a company can be implemented and certified ?
SA8000:2008
Social Accountability Certification
- About
SAI
- SA8000 standard
- Who
can apply ?
- Benefits
of SA8000 certificate
- Steps
involved in SA8000 certification
- Major
cost elements
- Choosing
a consultant
- Choosing
a certifying agency
- Useful SA8000 resources
About
SAI
SAI stands for Social Accountability International.
It
is a non-governmental, international, multi-stakeholder organisation
dedicated to improving workplaces and communities by developing and
implementing socially responsible standards. Its headquarters is
situated in New York, USA.
SAI convenes key stakeholders to
develop consensus-based voluntary standards, conducts cost-benefit
research, accredits auditors, provides training and technical
assistance, and assists corporations in improving social compliance in
their supply chains.
In 1997, SAI launched SA8000 (Social Accountability 8000) – a voluntary
standard for workplaces, based on ILO and UN conventions – which is
currently used by businesses and governments around the world and is
recognised as one of the strongest workplace standards.
SAI partners with trade unions, local NGOs, multi-stakeholder
initiatives, organic, fair trade, and environmental organisations,
development charities, and anti-corruption groups to carry out research,
training and capacity-building programs.
SA8000 standard
SA8000:2008 is an
auditable standard for a third-party verification system, setting out
the voluntary requirements to be met by employers in the workplace,
including workers’ rights, workplace conditions, and management systems.
A quick summary of SA8000:2008 requirements is given below:
- Child Labour: Do not engage in or support the use of child labour (children under 15 years).
- Forced and Compulsory Labour: Do not engage in or support the use of forced or compulsory labour.
- Health and Safety: Provide a safe and healthy
workplace environment and take effective steps to prevent potential
accidents and injury to workers’ health.
- Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining:
Respect the right of all personnel to form, join, and organise trade
unions of their choice and to bargain collectively on their behalf with
the company.
- Discrimination: Do not engage in or support
discrimination in hiring, remuneration, access to training, promotion,
termination, or retirement based on race, national or social origin,
caste, birth, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, family
responsibilities, marital status, etc.
- Disciplinary Practices: Treat all personnel with
dignity and respect, and do not engage in or tolerate the use of
corporal punishment, mental or physical coercion, or verbal abuse of
personnel.
- Working Hours: Comply with applicable laws and
industry standards on working hours and public holidays. The normal work
week, not including overtime, shall be defined by law but shall not
exceed 48 hours.
- Remuneration: Respect the right of personnel to a
living wage and ensure that wages paid for a normal work week shall
always meet at least legal or industry minimum standards and shall be
sufficient to meet the basic needs of personnel and to provide some
discretionary income.
- Management Systems: Define the company’s policy for social accountability and labour conditions, appoint a management representative, get the workers elect their own SA8000 worker representative, conduct management review, impart training to personnel, control the suppliers / subcontractors and sub-suppliers, provide a confidential means for workers to report non-compliances and address the concerns and take corrective action when required, be open to regular outside communication and stakeholder engagement, provide access for verification (to auditors), and maintain records to demonstrate conformity with the requirements.
Are these requirements very difficult to implement ? Not,
really. Over 2100 organizations from 60 countries covering 67 industry
sectors have already done it successfully, and, received the prestigious
SA8000:2008 certificate. Are you ready to make an attempt ?
Who
can apply ?
Any legal entity can apply for SA8000 certification.
Manufacturers, Service Organizations, Trading Houses, Banks, Hospitals, Educational
Institutions, Government Agencies, etc. are eligible to apply.
Benefits
of SA8000 certification
Many
large organizations such as TESCO, WalMart, etc. have decided to
clean-up their supply chain by asking their suppliers (especially those
from developing nations and third world countries) to demonstrate their
corporate social responsibility. They prefer to do business with
SA8000:2008 certified suppliers. As such, getting an opportunity to do
business with big business houses is the prime benefit.
Some of the other benefits of SA8000 certification are:
- Systems approach to Social Accountability commitment
- Clarity in definition of Social Accountability related authorities and responsibilities
- Improvement in employee-employer relationship, safe and healthy workplace environment, and better compliance with labour laws
- Better documentation and traceability to root causes of worker and workplace related issues
- Reduction in the need for multiple assessments (by customers)
- Use of recognized mark (of certifying agency) on letterheads etc., and
- Enhanced corporate image and market positioning.
Steps
involved in SA8000 certification
The
steps involved in any SA8000 certification
project are the following:
- Gap
Analysis: Detailed assessment of existing social accountability management practices vis-a-vis SA8000:2008 requirements.
- Initial Review and Planning:
Review of findings of gap analysis by Senior Management, identification
of applicable legal and other requirements, and planning for
SA8000:2008 implementation.
- System Documentation: Preparation of manuals, forms, campaign posters, etc.
- System Implementation: Implementation of the system as per manuals.
- Company-wide Training: Training on SA8000:2008 requirements, employment benefits, familiarization of SA procedures, SA internal audit, etc.
- SA Internal Audits: Periodic assessment of system implementation status and corrective / preventive actions on audit findings.
- Pre-assessment: Initial assessment by Certifying agency, and corrective actions by applicant organization.
- Final Assessment: Detailed assessment by the Certifying agency and recommendation for certification.
Major
cost elements
There are three major cost elements in any SA8000 project:
- Cost of
ensuring health and safety at workplace, and the cost incurred in
providing employment benefits and miminum wages / living wages to
workers that they are legally entitled to.
- Cost of training resources / fee to be paid to external consultants.
- Fee to be paid to the certifying agency.
The above costs depend on the size and complexity
of operations of the applicant company.
Choosing
a consultant
Before
deciding on your SA8000 consultant, consider
the following:
Formal
Qualifications:
As in the case of medical / financial
services, look for formal qualifications. At its
minimum level, he / she must have a
graduate / post-graduate degree in Industrial Engineering / Labour Laws /
Business Administration (Human Resources specialization) with adequate
exposure to handling of worker related issues. Apart from SA8000
requirements, your consultant must also be aware of the local statutory
and regulatory requirements (such as the Factories Act and Rules,
Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Employee State Insurance Act,
Provident Fund Act, Fire Safety Rules, etc.). Consultants with
industrial engineering / social science background are far more suitable
than those with some other educational background.
Relevant
Experience:
Your
SA8000 consultant should have the experience of handling atleast one
or two SA8000 projects independently or as the principal consultant.
Avoid those with long experience in other fields and little exposure to
SA8000.
Professional Ethics:
Do
not sign-up those SA8000 consultants who claim to represent a
particular certifying agency and/or offer package deals. Also, do not go
with those who assure you the SA8000 certification within ridiculously
short time span (say, thirty days). When you expose your personnel to
such unethical people during project implementation, it would cause
irrepairable damage to your organizational culture and jeopardize the
continuation of SA8000 certification itself.
Please keep in mind
that SA8000 is not a very complex issue, and, any organisation (big or
small) with genuine commitment to social accountability and worker
welfare can achieve it.
Willingness to help in documentation:
Your
SA8000 consultant should prepare first draft
of at least the SA Policy Manual, SA
Procedures, and Standard Forms for SA record keeping. This would help in
quick implementation of the system.
Support till certification:
Get firm commitment from your consultant that he / she
shall provide support till your company gets
certified.
Choosing a certifying agency
This
is also very important. Usually, your SA8000 consultant suggests some
reputed names. But, do not forget to ask your friends in the industry
and verify the credibility of the certifying agency. As SA8000 is more
relevant in contractual situations, your customer can be well aware of
the standard of certifying agencies.
Also,
you must insist on signing the service agreement between the Certifying
Agency and the Organization applying for certification and pay the
audit fees directly to the Certifying Agency. Reputed certifying
agencies do not sign-up or bill via a third party like a consulting /
accounting / manpower placement agency.
Another
point is regarding recognition of certification.
In case your buyers are from a different
country, it is better to select an auditing
agency well recognized in the buyers' country.
Cost
is yet another factor. Due to competition,
certification fee has come down to affordable levels now. However,
there can be hidden costs like cost of flying
down an auditor from a remote location. In that
case, hidden cost can be very substantial. Always go for a credible agency with
sufficient number of auditors stationed locally.
Bureau
Veritas Certification, Det Norske Veritas AS, Intertek Testing
Services, SGS, and TUV are some of the reputed SA8000 certifying bodies
operating globally.
