SA8000
SA8000 is an international standard with the aim of improving the working conditions of employees (employees, workers, but also contract workers). Launched by Social Accountability International (SAI), an international non-governmental organization based in New York ( US ), it primarily serves transnational companies as a minimum requirement for social and labor standards. Companies register independently with the SAI for certification . In contrast to national laws and regulations, SA8000 is an international standard, the certification and compliance of which is based on the voluntary decision of the company. It is based on the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN). SAI is financially independent.
criteria
In order to receive the certificate, a company must meet the following requirements:
- no child labor
- no forced labor
- Minimum standards in the field of health and safety at work
- Unions allow
- no discrimination
- no physical or psychological punishment
- Working time restrictions
- a not too low wage level
- further demands on the management
Certification
The standard is compatible with the structures of the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards. SA8000 is based on the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child . Certification is carried out by accredited certifiers such as Bureau Veritas , Det Norske Veritas (DNV), DQS , Société Générale de Surveillance or TÜV .
Fire at the Ali Enterprises textile factory in Karachi, Pakistan
On September 11, 2012, a serious fire broke out in the Ali Enterprises textile factory in Karachi, Pakistan , in which 260 people died and 30 were injured. Just a few weeks earlier, this factory was awarded the SA 8000 seal. Ali Enterprises is an independent company, but the German textile retailer KiK was responsible for 70% of the orders. The reason for the high number of fatalities was inadequate fire protection: emergency exits were blocked, escape routes blocked, windows were barred and an unapproved wooden mezzanine was installed. Nevertheless, the auditors from RINA, a Karachi-based subcontractor of the Italian auditing company SpA, awarded the SA 8000 seal. The evidenced deficiencies in the textile factory suggest that the auditors never entered the factory building in which the fire occurred deliberately ignored the serious shortcomings. Social Accountability International (SAI) investigated the events, revoked RINA's auditing license for Pakistan and suspended all SA8000s issued by RINA. The Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating RINA.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.sa-intl.org/_data/n_0001/resources/live/2008StdEnglishFinal.pdf .
- ↑ June 2014 edition (PDF; 160 kB).
- ↑ Major fire in Karachi: "There was fire and smoke everywhere" - WELT. In: THE WORLD. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Caspar Dohmen Karachi: Disaster in a textile factory: "No liability basis" . In: sueddeutsche.de . September 1, 2015, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed December 12, 2016]).
- ^ Dpa: Pakistan: cheap textile retailer kik produced at the site of the Karachi disaster . In: The time . September 18, 2012, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed December 12, 2016]).
- ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Playing with fire - textile industry in the pillory | Economy | DW.COM | 07/18/2014. In: DW.COM. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
- ^ Social Accountability International: Report Ad-dendum: Fire Safety in Pakistan and World Wide - Prepared by Social Accountability International (SAI) . Ed .: Social Accountability International. 2013.
- ↑ Factory fire in Pakistan / KiK - ECCHR - EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (de). (No longer available online.) In: www.ecchr.eu. Archived from the original on December 12, 2016 ; accessed on December 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
