SA 8000 is a standard for social accountability in the workplace.
In essence, social accountability means managing business activities in a manner that respects and promotes the basic human rights of all workers.

What is SA 8000

Social accountability expectations can vary from one company to another. Fair compensation, reasonable working hours, a safe and healthy environment and prohibition of child labour and forced labour are common to all codes. Some codes add requirements for non-discrimination, freedom of association, disciplinary practices, or management system controls. A few mix in non-social issues such as drug interdiction, customs issues, or basic environmental controls. Expectations of the level of conformance to each of the above issues also vary dependent upon the code or standard selected. The absolute minimum expectation would be compliance with applicable laws, however this is often inadequate from the viewpoint of civil society and more stringent criteria are usually adopted.

Many companies choose to define their own values through a "Code of Conduct for Suppliers" or similar document. Other companies, in order to ensure that common values are adequately addressed, prefer to adopt a standard or common code and an associated, credible monitoring program, (such as the SA 8000 standard and program developed by the Council on Economic Priorities). Whatever social accountability code or standard is adopted, and no matter how stringent the criteria contained within it, little credibility or value is provided to any party without periodic monitoring to determine and demonstrate conformance in the workplaces themselves.

Services we can provide to support SA 8000 development

• Mentoring
• Complete system design and implementation