Code of conduct

Company that practice social accountability lower the risk of contributing to social and environmental harm by committing to standards that address the concerns of their stakeholders. ?Effective social accountability programs are characterized by transparency, engagement with stakeholders, and a long-term, systematic approach.

The aim of social accountability (code of conduct, human rights, ethical requirements) audit/monitoring is to ensure that your business partners abide with your company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility. To validate transparency, consistency and integrity, most companies use a 3rd party like CQA to conduct the social accountability compliance audit.

Main elements of a typical code of conduct:

1. Child labor
2. Forced labor
3. Health & Safety
4. Freedom of assessment
5. Discrimination
6. Disciplinary practices
7. Working hours
8. Environment

Introduction of COC:

Much like ISO 9001:2000 for quality management and IS0 14000 for environmental management, the SA 8000 provides a set of standards for evaluating social accountability in the following areas:

Child labor: Companies may not support the use of child labor. The Social Accountability International (SAI) standard defines child labor as the work of "any person under 14 years of age, unless local minimum age law stipulates a higher age for work."

Forced Labour: Companies may not support the use of "forced labor."

Health and Safety: Companies must provide a safe and healthy working environment for their employees.

Freedom of Association and Right to collective Bargaining: Companies must respect the right of all employees to form and join trade unions of their choice and to bargain collectively.

Discrimination: Companies may not engage in or support discrimination in hiring, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement based on race, caste, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, or political affiliation.

Disciplinary practices: Companies may not engage in or support the use of corporal punishment, mental or physical coercion or verbal abuse.

Working hours: Companies must comply with applicable laws and industry standards on working hours.

Compensation: Companies must ensure that wages paid for a standard working week meet at least legal or industry minimum standards.

Management systems: Top management must define the company's policy for social accountability and labor conditions to ensure that it includes a commitment to conform to all requirements of this standard and national and other applicable laws.

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