Social Accountability (SA8000)

An International Standard for Improving Working Conditions

What is Social Accountability?
Social Accountability is a measure of an organization’s state of being mindful of the emerging social concerns and
priorities of internal and external stakeholders (community, employees, governmental and nongovernmental
organizations, management, and owners). It is reflected in the organization’s verifiable commitment to certain factors
(which may or may not be tied directly to its processes) such as (1) willing compliance with employment, health and
hygiene, safety, and environment laws, (2) respect for basic civil and human rights, and (3) betterment of community
and surrounding.

SA 8000
SA8000 is an international standard for improving working conditions. This standard is based on the principles of the
international human rights norms as described in International Labour Organisation Conventions, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A social compliance program is usually based on adherence to rules of social accountability, established by certified
conformance to standards such as SA8000. See also corporate governance.

Social Audit is the process of evaluating a firm’s various operating procedures, code of conduct, and other factors to
determine its effect on a society. The goal is to identify, if any, actions of the firm have impacted the society in some
way. A social audit may be initiated by a firm that is seeking to improve its cohesiveness or improve its image within
the society. If the results are positive, they may be released to the public. For example, if a factory is believed to have a
negative impact, the company may have a social audit conducted to identify actions that actually benefit the society.

SA 8000 certification
SA8000 measures the performance of organisations in eight key areas: child labour, forced labour, health and safety,
freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours and remuneration. The
2014 version brings in the concept of risk identification and controls. It focuses on the management systems approach to
improve the social accountability.

The systems put in place to achieve this certification are an ongoing process and involves the participation of employees to
ensure systemic change. The benefits of adopting SA8000 includes improved staff morale, reliable business partnerships,
enhanced competitiveness, less staff turnover and better worker-manager communication.

Why SA 8000 is important for organization?

Globally the need to demonstrate ethical, fair, transparent, caring work place environment is increasing. Businesses look
forward to partner with ones who treat their personnel fairly. This is increasing the demand of SA 8000 worldwide.

Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS) is

BSI group India Pvt. Ltd. is an approved SA8000 Accredited the accreditation body for SA 8000. BSI has the global
certification body accreditation by SAAS to conduct SA 8000 audits and
visit at http://www.saasaccreditation.org/?q=node/65 issue SA 8000 certification.

2
BSI’s Offerings
BSI has expert team of highly experienced resources who can deliver SA 8000, BSCI, SMETA, WRAP, CTPAD and code of
conduct audits.

Social Accountability Training

SA 8000:2014 Social Accountability Introduction Training
This is a 2 days training course. Requirements of International Standard SA 8000:2014 on Social Accountability will be
discussed during this training. SA 8000:2014 is a Standard which is significantly getting recognized globally. Buyers and
consumers today choose to use product processed in a factory or be in business with a Company which has not exploited its
manpower.

SA 8000:2014 Social Accountability Internal Auditor Training

This is a 2 days training course which covers interpretation of SA 8000:2014 requirements from Auditing perspective. SA
8000:2014 is a Standard which is significantly getting recognized globally. Buyers and consumers today choose to use
product processed in a factory or be in business with a Company which has not exploited its manpower.

SA 8000:2014 Social Accountability Implementation Training

SA 8000:2014 Social Accountability Social Performance Indicators Training

Social Accountability Audits

SA 8000 Audit/ Transition Audit

Social finger print parameters, grading criteria and identifying areas of improvement after self-assessment

Benefits of SA 8000 Certification for Organization

Improved internal Efficient risk management No duplication of efforts and
management systems cost

More leverage throughout the Reduce audit fatigue as Planned approach and
supply chain it is the only accredited resources for improvements
internationally recognized and remediation
Standard for Socail
Accountabilty

Influence on key players of Opportunity to demonstrate Influence on key players at

the supply chain best practices on social international level
performnce indicators

Benefits for Worker

Increased awareness of Better access to grievance Improvement of working
labour rights mechanisms conditions

Transparent arrangement at Ensuring Safe and healthy

work place work place

3
About BSI Group
BSI, a Royal Charter founded in 1901, focuses
on standards creation, certification, supplier
verification and training activities to help manage
risk, reduce costs and ensure sustainability.
As the world’s most experienced Standards Body 10,000
and founding member of ISO, BSI leads the way Industry experts dedicated
in originating the majority of the world's most to your success
recognized standards, including ISO 9001,
ISO 14001, BS OHSAS 18001, Business Continuity Management, Information
Security, Cloud Computing, Energy Water Management, Anti-bribery as well as
the originator of other supplier qualification standards covering Supplier Pre-
Qualification, CSR, GMP, Security, Chain of Custody and other topics.

Certification 80,000
Customers worldwide
• 25,038 business locations certified by BSI in Asia
• Ranked 1st in North America and United Kingdom
• 7,424 CE marking certificates
• Our assessors score on average 9.25 / 10 in our
Global Client Satisfaction Survey

120,000
Product certification Business locations
worldwide
92% of the world’s top 25 global medical device manufactures
trust BSI as their notified body for CE marking certification to
access global markets.

BSI’s India Presence

Mumbai Chennai Hyderabad
+91 (0) 22 4257 8600/04/26 +91 (0) 44 28361305/06/07/08 +91 (0) 40 40201004/05 Training
Bangalore Kerala Pune Last year we provided
+91 (0) 8040472300 +91 (484) 4036861 +91 (020) 60709990
training to over 113,000
Chandigarh Kolkata delegates
+91 (0) 172 5026070/71/72 +91 (0) 33 22658803

India Office:
Standards
Quality management systems
BSI Group India
The Mira Corporate Suites, Standard ISO 9001 – which
BSI/IN/MKT/2016/en/SA-ver-1

A-2, Plot 1&2, Ishwar Nagar, started life at BSI in 1979 as

Mathura Road, New Delhi-110065, India BS 5750 – is the world’s most
Call: +91 11 2692 9000 successful standard, having
Email: [email protected] been adopted by more than
one million organizations in 178
countries
© BSI Group