SA 8000

SA8000, or "Social Accountability 8000", was developed to promote socially responsible business in all sectors around the globe. Rather than being a "sweatshop code" for customers to enforce upon their suppliers, SA8000 was developed to help socially responsible companies to measure and differentiate themselves from other companies operating with less than acceptable labor conditions. It sets out expectations regarding health and safety, child labor, forced labor, freedom of association, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours and compensation together with the management systems to deliver them. SA8000 covers all the major labor rights issues contained in International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also acknowledges the importance of compliance with locally applicable laws.

SA8000 is promoted as a voluntary, universal standard for companies interested in auditing and certifying labour practices in their facilities and those of their suppliers and vendors. It is designed for independent third party certification.

It measures the performance of companies in eight key areas: child labour, forced labour, health and safety, free association and collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours and compensation. SA8000 also provides for a social accountability management system to demonstrate ongoing conformance with the standard

Benefits of SA 8000

SA 8000 compliance proves organizations commitment to social accountability and to treating its employees ethically and in compliance with global standards. At the same time, this certification can improve the management and performance of supply chain. SA 8000 allows organizations to ensure compliance with global standards and reduce the risk of malpractice, public exposure and possible litigation. Demonstrating commitment to social accountability can support corporate vision and build and reinforce the loyalty of your employees, customers and stakeholders, which in turn impacts your bottom line.

SA8000 certified facilities enjoy a competitive advantage and workers experience concrete benefits. Some of the benefits are detailed below:

• Enhanced opportunities to organise trade unions and bargain collectively
• Enhances company and brand reputation
• Improves employee recruitment, retention and productivity
• Supports better supply chain management and performance

Who is it applicable to ?

Organizations of all types, sectors and sizes can improve their performance through the implementation of this standard.

How can ISO - Kuwait help you to get SA 8000 Certification ?

ISO - Kuwait will assist your organization in ISO awareness training, documentation, implementation, internal auditing and overall process optimization as per SA 8000 standard. ISO - Kuwait is a result oriented professional training and certification service providers, offering systematic approaches to improve quality and effectiveness of the system and enhance the productivity by offering systematic approaches. Our main objective is to help you and your organization improve profitability, through better utilization of all of your resources