What is SA 8000 ? Why should a company comply with it ?

The SA8000 Standard is one of the world’s first auditable social certification standards for decent workplaces, across all industrial sectors. It is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights, conventions of the ILO, UN and national law, and spans industry and corporate codes to create a common language to measure social performance.  It takes a management systems approach by setting out the structures and procedures that companies must adopt in order to ensure that compliance with the standard is continuously reviewed. Those seeking to comply with SA8000 have adopted policies and procedures that protect the basic human rights of workers.

It is a system of auditing the well being of your employees.

The SA8000 Standard is the central document of our work at SAI. It is one of the world’s first auditable social certification standards for decent workplaces, across all industrial sectors. It is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights, conventions of the ILO, UN and national law, and spans industry and corporate codes to create a common language to measure social performance.  It takes a management systems approach by setting out the structures and procedures that companies must adopt in order to ensure that compliance with the standard is continuously reviewed. Those seeking to comply with SA8000 have adopted policies and procedures that protect the basic human rights of workers. Below are the nine elements in the SA8000 Standard.

Mutual Recognition: SAI seeks to increase transparency into the SA8000 Standard and reduce the duplication of audits by increasing the recognition and acceptance of SA8000 as a high quality certification by buyers, initiatives, standard setting bodies, and others. For the results of the GSCP Equivalence Process comparison of SA8000:2008 against the GSCP Reference Code (social), please click here.

Certification: Please note that currently SA8000 certification is only available to the SA8000:2008 Standard. Beginning May2015 and ending May2016, a one-year transition period will commence allowing certification to either SA8000:2008 or SA8000:2014. Please see the SAAS Notification: Certification of Clients to SA8000:2014 - which details the timeline for upgrading certificates from2008 to2014 - here. 

Beginning May2016, certification will only be available to SA8000:2014. Thus, as of May2016, all certifications to SA8000:2008 must be transitioned to SA8000:2014. A notification will be sent to Certification Bodies by Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS) detailing the steps that need to be taken in order to be qualified to perform SA8000:2014 certification audits.

SA8000 is a universally applicable standard and, in principle, SA8000 certification is possible in any state or industry. However, in order to maintain the Standard’s commitment to respecting the spirit and norms of ILO standards, there are several specific exceptions to SA8000 certification. Please find the list of exceptions here.

Training: Please note that currently Basic and Advanced auditor courses will be taught according to SA8000:2008, with some introductory information about SA8000:2014. In November2014, the SA8000:2014 Revision Course - Part1 will become available online. Beginning April1,2015, Basic and Advanced auditor courses will be taught according to SA8000:2014. Please see this page for a detailed explanation of changes to training courses.

1. Child Labor
2. Forced or Compulsory Labor
3. Health & Safety
4. Freedom of Association & Right to Collective Bargaining
5. Discrimination
6. Disciplinary Practices
7. Working Hours
8. Remuneration 
9. Management Systems

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