Social Accountability Management System assessment checklist

/ RINA

SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

AUDIT CHECKLIST N° ______OF ______

JOB N° ……………………………

COMPANY:______

ADDRESS:______

______

REFERENCE STANDARD: SA 8000:2008

MANUAL: Rev.______Date ______

AUDITOR: ______

SIGNATURE OF AUDITOR:______

DATE:______

Note:______

Attachment:______

The entire check list is intended as a support tool for the conduction of the audit.

If it is used to record evidences, then it has to be kept as audit document.

ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / Remarks
II / REGULATORY ELEMENTS
Do you comply with national laws, European directives and other mandatory rules relevant to SA 8000 and update in a controlled way (procedures/instructions)?
Do you comply with the principles of the international documents mentioned in par. II of the SA 8000 standard and have you formalised this practice?
Do you fulfil the agreements (sectorial, territorial…) and requirements derived from collective bargaining?
If the rules deal with the same subject, do you implement those most favourable to the worker?
In the case of production sites abroad, is there a formal system which deals with compliance with national rules and ILO conventions mentioned in SA 8000?
Objective evidence: / yes / Attached
. International conventions available in the company
. Management system of the mandatory rules
. System of periodic updating of the rules
. Other:
______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / remarks
1
1.1 / CHILD LABOUR
Does the company currently employ children?
What is the minimum working age established by local law? (not less than 15 years)
Do you currently have children working in the company who are under the age established by the above local laws?
Have you had cases of child labour in the past?
1.2 / Have you established, documented and maintained written policies and procedures for the remediation of children under the local minimum legal age found to be working? * Note 1
What action would be taken if cases of child labour were discovered in the company?
What kind of communication do you make to the interested parties and your staff when cases of child labour are discovered?
What kind of support do you give to children under the local minimum legal age found to be working?
When does the support you give these children finish?
1.3 / Do you have procedures for promoting education for children covered under ILO Recommendation 146 and for young workers who are subject to local compulsory education laws?
Up to what age is education compulsory?
How do you communicate the procedures for the promotion of education to your staff and interested parties?
Are there any children or young workers in the company subject to compulsory education?
How many hours a day do they work?
Where do they live?
Do the combined hours of transportation (to and from work and school), school and work amount to less than 10 hours a day?
Have you estimated the number of the above hours? How?
Where do the children and young workers work in your company?
1.4 / Are they exposed to all kinds of risk in their workplace?
Do they work in the evening? What means of transport do they use to go home?
Are any toxic elements or substances present in their workplace?
Objective evidence: / yes / attached
·local guidelines on the minimum working age
·birth certificate
·list of children or young workers
·communications to staff and interested parties concerning policies and procedures relative to child labour
·records of wage payments, tutorship, books, etc. by the company
·records of the assessment of work+transport+school time
·records of accidents involving children or young workers
·remediation plans also applicable to suppliers
·review of the records relative to the six months previous to the audit to search for evidence that children or young workers have been dismissed
.print-out of employees in order of date of birth
·other:
______
Note 1:
Where the risk of child labour is very low, a detailed procedure is however required, as it should describe supplier control methods on the basis of the risk level of the sector, activity and geographical area.
NOTA BENE: Regarding the criteria for the planning/carrying out of interviews, reference is to be made to the RINA document “Interviewing techniques”. Moreover, the total time taken for the interviews is to be equal to at least 30% of the man/days on site.
Interviews with young workers and children
  • When were you born? How old are you? If you don’t remember, can you remember any important event that has happened in recent years?
  • Where do you live?
  • How long have you worked here?
  • Do you go to school? Where?
  • How many hours do you work a day?
  • Have you ever had an accident while you were working? If so, when? How?
  • Can you show me what kind of job you do?
  • What do you think of your workplace? (generally)
Interviews with staff
  • Are you aware of the child labour procedures established in your company?
other: ______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / remarks
2
2.1 / FORCED LABOUR
Have there been episodes of forced labour in your company? *Note 2
2.2 / What is your hiring policy and the policy of any entity
supplying labour to you?
2.3 / Are workers free to terminate their employment provided that they give reasonable notice to their employer?
Do you make use of security or surveillance officers orof other surveillance means in your company?
Are workers free to leave the workplace when their shift is over?
Are checks and personal searches made?
Objective evidence / yes / Attached
·does the company keep the identity documents of workers?
·audio-visual control systems
.other: ______
Note 2:
It is necessary to assess any requests of payment made to the worker for initial training or equipment.
In the case of migrant workers, it is necessary to check that a debt has not been contracted with the employer for the journey.
Control over the chain of suppliers is to be undertaken where subcontracting policies exist.
Interviews with workers
-Are you obliged to lodge objects or money with the company?
-Do you have a work contract? What does it contain?
-Do you work here of your own free will?
-Do you have a debt of any kind with the company?
-Are you free to meet the members of your family?
-Do the security staff go around the workplace? For what reason?
-Are control visits made? If so, what criteria are used to identify the recipients of these checks?
-Other: ______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / Remarks
3
3.1 / Health AND Safety
Do you have an occupational health, safety and hygienemanual and/or procedures? * Note 3
Are these documents translated into a language that is comprehensible to all workers?
How do you prevent workers from exposure to dangerous substances or machinery?
3.2 / Has a senior management representative been appointed as responsible for the health and safety of all staff?
What are his/her responsibilities?
3.3 / How do you train staff on health and safety topics?
Do you repeat training for new or reassigned staff? Are the instructions repeated in cases where accidents have occurred?
Do you have a training programme?
Do you give your staff health and safety training at least once a year?
3.4 / Have you identified the potential threats to staff in the workplace? * Note 4
Do you maintain written records of all accidents that occur in the workplace and in company-controlled residences and property?
How do you detect, avoid or respond to these threats?
3.5 / Do you provide at your expense appropriate personal protective equipment to personnel?
In the event of a work related injury, do you provide first aid and assistthe worker in obtaining follow-up medical treatment?
3.6 / Do you undertake to assess all the risks to new and expectant mothers arising out of their work activity?
3.7 / Does your company have:
- clean bathrooms accessible to all staff (no time/use restrictions and architectural barriers except where necessary)
- access to drinking water
- food storage equipment (only if applicable)
- clean changing rooms accessible to all staff (there are no architectural barriers except where necessary)
3.8 / Do you provide dormitory facilities for your workers?
If so, are they clean, safe, and do they meet the basic needs of the workers?
3.9 / Do the workers have the right to remove themselves from imminent serious danger without seeking permission from the company?
Objective evidence / yes / attached
·Records of training programmes, accident reports
·Distribution of health and safety procedures and manuals
·Use of personal protection equipment
·Clearly identified, trained medical staff
·Do workers know how to contact the medical emergency service?
·Are emergency and fire prevention systems installed in the workplaces where required?
·Do workers have access to drinking water, and, if present, are the canteens hygienic?
·Are the dormitory facilities clean and safe?
·Is personal protection equipment freely available for the workers?
·Test on the quality of the drinking water
·Other______
Note 3:
Adequate measures are to be taken to eliminate or minimise health and safety risks in the short and long term.
The concept of safety “management” is stressed, through a formalised system.
Note 4:
Frequent risk factors:
-Inhalation of powders/dust
-Fire
-Exposure to the heat and cold (intended also as level of well-being)
-Noise.
Interviews with workers
-Are you aware of the occupational health and safety procedures established by your company?
-Do you know what to do in case of fire?
-Have you received training on occupational health and safety risks?
-Do you know who the company health and safety manager is?
-Since you were hired, how many times have you received training on occupational health and safety issues?
-Do you know where the emergency medical service is and how to reach it?
-Do you have access to drinking water?
-Are the canteen facilities clean?
-Where do you sleep? Are the dormitory facilities clean and safe?
-Other: ______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / remarks
4
4.1 / FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
How do you effectively inform personnel that they have the right to:
·form trade unions
·join trade unions
·bargain collectively
Are the personnel free to join an organisation of their choosing and that their doing so will not result in any negative consequences to them?
4.2 / Are workers free to elect their own representatives?
4.3 / Can you confirm that trade union representatives and/or representatives of workers are not subject to forms of discrimination?
Interviews with workers
-Do you belong to a trade union?
-Are the representatives of your trade union able to meet you in the workplace?
-Are the meetings paid?
-Are trade union permits used?
-Other: ______
Objective evidence:
·Company trade union notice boards separate from company notice boards
·If there are company trade union representatives, is there a suitable meeting room?
·Regular trade union deductions
·Job announcements
·% of trade union members
·Strike days a year and % of support
·Other:______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / Remarks
5
5.1 / DiscriminaTion
Do you have procedures/methods for preventing forms of discrimination? * Note 5
Do you have procedures for discovering if forms of discrimination have occurred concerning:
- hiring
- compensation
- access to training
- promotion and salary policies
- termination
- retirement
- age
Do you have procedures which allow workers to report any form of discrimination?
If a case of discrimination is reported how is it handled?
(N.B.: this procedure may be included in the hiring procedure)
5.2 / Are workers free to observe tenets and practices relating to race, caste, religion and disability?
Do you have disabled workers? Does the company provide all the equipment they require?
Are women paid on an equal footing to men?
Does each worker, regardless of his/her race, sex or religion, receive adequate compensation?
5.3 / How do you prevent sexually coercive or abusive (physical, verbal, psychological, etc.) behaviour in your company?
5.4 / Are you able to confirm that you do not subject personnelto pregnancy tests?
Objective evidence: / yes / attached
·Procedures against discrimination
·Records of episodes of discrimination
·Company slogans against discrimination
·Job announcements
·Payment records
.Correct contractual level
.Documents which identify age parameters for employment
.Systems for continuous personnel assessment
.Formalised initiatives to improve workers’ quality of life
.Procedures to encourage employment of women (part-time, flexible working hours, etc.)
.Presence of personnel belonging to protected categories
.Workplaces suitable for access by disabled personnel
.Systematic and transparent management of training characterised by adequate planning
.Code of behaviour/Company statements forbidding physical/verbal/psychological/sexual abuse of workers and encouraging denouncement
·Other: ______
Note 5:
A “passive” policy may perpetuate discriminatory habits.
A proactive company policy is needed aimed at encouraging equal opportunity.
Interviews with workers
-Have you ever been discriminated against or suffered abuse in your company?
-If so, why? How?
-Have you ever heard of episodes of discrimination, abuse or mobbing in your company?
-Do you know how to report episodes of discrimination, abuse or mobbing?
-How did you join the company?
-Is there a system of planning training accepted by the workers?
-Can the workers propose themselves for training?
-Is there a transparent system for the management of promotion/rises?
-Other: ______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / Remarks
6
6.1 / disciplinarY PRACTICES
Do you have procedures for preventing corporal punishment?
Do you have procedures for preventing physical coercion?
Do you have procedures for preventing verbal abuse?
What kind of disciplinary procedures are in use? * Note 6
Is there a procedure for appealing against disciplinary action?
What kind of disciplinary measures are in use?
Can trade union representatives appeal against disciplinary measures?
Do you have a disciplinary code which is known to the employees?
Do you have procedures to analyse disciplinary procedures so as to implement possible actions to reduce their number and prevent a repetition of the events leading to them?
Objective evidence / yes / attached
·Appeals procedures
·Procedures against corporal punishment, physical coercion and verbal abuse
·Records of breaches of the company disciplinary policy
·Are the workers aware of the company disciplinary policy?
.Formally motivated disciplinary procedures
.Appeals against disciplinary procedures and their outcome
·Other: ______
Note 6:
Salary deductions for disciplinary reasons are forbidden (with the exception allowed by Advisory no. 15 dated May 2005. Thus, the fines foreseen in Italy by the national collective labour contracts are permitted).
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / remarks
7
7.1 / WORKING HOURS
What are the applicable laws and industry standards concerning working hours? Does the company comply with them?
How many hours are there in a regular working week in your country?
How many hours a week do your workers usually work?
Have your workers ever been required to work more than 48 hours a week? * Note 6
7.2 / When is their day off?
Do you provide the personnel with at leastone day off following every six consecutivedays of working? * Note 7
7.3 / How many hours overtime does a worker generally do in a week?
Is overtime a regular event? In what circumstances does it occur?
Is overtime work done voluntarily by the employees? (barring specific trade union agreements)
7.4 / Is overtime work done in accordance with collective bargaining?
Does the organisation sometimes ask the employees to do overtime?
If so, subject to trade union agreement?
Is there a collective labour agreement and has it been freely negotiated with the worker organisations?
Does the collective labour agreement allow the organisation to require overtime to be carried out in particular occasions?
Objective evidence / yes / attached
·Daily average productivity records
·Working week less than 48 hours and minimum hours legally established by the country
·Overtime less than 12 hours a week
·Amount of overtime compensation
.Collective bargaining
.Systematic monitoring of overtime
.Monitoring of holidays taken and those still to be taken
.Monitoring of weekly day off taken
·Other: ______
Note 6:
It is possible to exceed 48 hours a week in particular conditions or circumstances, i.e. crew members and supervisory personnel.
Note 7:
Exceptions to this rule apply only where both of the following conditions exist:
a) National law allows work time exceeding this limit; and
b) A freely negotiated collective bargaining agreement is in force that allows work time averaging, including adequate rest periods.
Interviews with workers:
How many hours do you usually work in a week?
-Do you often do overtime?
-Are these hours adequately remunerated?
-When is your day off?
-Do you have to work at home?
-Has the organisation asked you to do overtime? If so, how often?
-Other: ______
ref.
SA 8000 / yes / no / n.a. / Remarks
8
8.1 / compensation
What is the minimum legal wage for a standard working week?
Is it sufficient to meet the basic needs of staff and provide an income? * Note 8
What is the net wage paid to workers for a standard working week?
Does this net wage meet the basic needs of workers?
How did you evaluate the amount of compensation required to meet the basic needs of staff?
Do you possess a copy of the annual work statistics publication by ILO?
8.2 / Can wage deductions be used as disciplinary measures? * Note 9
8.3 / Are the personnel’s wages and benefits composition detailed clearly and regularly in writing for them for each pay period?
Are there any workers who are unable to read, write or add up in the company?
If so, how are the details of the wage slip explained?
How are wages and benefits paid to workers (cash, cheques, credit transfer, other)
Are any deductions made from wages, such as medical expenses, transport, meals?
Are transport costs to and from the workplace and meals included in the net wage?
8.4 / Is overtime always adequately remunerated?
How is overtime remunerated?
8.5 / Do you have apprenticeship contracts? * Note 10
When do you apply them?
Are there other flexible types of employment? * Note 11
Objective evidence: / yes / attached
·Payment records
·Wages slips
. Overtime wages
·Apprenticeship contracts
.Percentage of apprentices taken on in recent years