{"id":1118,"date":"2014-10-15T12:50:22","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T12:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2023-03-16T09:02:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T09:02:07","slug":"why-social-responsibility-at-factories-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proqc.com\/blog\/why-social-responsibility-at-factories-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why social responsibility at factories matters"},"content":{"rendered":"We continue to see an increase in requests for social responsibility audits and are pleased to see the growing commitment in this regard.  Aside from reducing quality risks and cost, ensuring social responsibility improves the quality of life and ultimately affects the quality of products being produced as well.\n

Principles of social responsibility per the ISO 26000 guideline include:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2022 Accountability\n\u2022 Transparency\n\u2022 Ethical behaviour\n\u2022 Respect for stakeholder interests\n\u2022 Respect for the rule of law\n\u2022 Respect for international norms\nof behaviour\n\u2022 Respect for human rights<\/blockquote>\n“The SA 8000 standard is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights, conventions of the ILO, UN and national law, and spans industry and corporate codes to create a common language to measure social performance.  It takes a management systems approach by setting out the structures and procedures that companies must adopt in order to ensure that compliance with the standard is continuously reviewed.”<\/em>\n

The nine elements of the SA 8000 standard include:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n \t
  1. Child Labor<\/li>\n \t
  2. Forced or Compulsory Labor<\/li>\n \t
  3. Health & Safety<\/li>\n \t
  4. Freedom of Association & Right to Collective Bargaining<\/li>\n \t
  5. Discrimination<\/li>\n \t
  6. Disciplinary Practices<\/li>\n \t
  7. Working Hours<\/li>\n \t
  8. Remuneration<\/li>\n \t
  9. Management Systems<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nPro QC auditors receive special training and certifications to be able to evaluate and identify areas of non-conformance. We also work with these facilities on corrective action so that they meet client and internationally accepted standards of conformance.\n\nAs an example, auditors discovered the following during a recent social responsibility audit at a factory in China:\n\n\"Photo\n\nThe fire extinguishers in this facility were blocked and not easily accessible if needed.  In addition, the clips were damaged resulting in a failure to function.<\/em>\n\n\"Photo\n\nChemicals were found to be open and exposed.  They were also not labeled correctly. No inventory or MSDS information was available. <\/em>\n\n\"Untitled\"\n\nExit doors were locked during working hours, which presents a safety risk in an emergency. <\/em>\n

    Contact us for additional information or to review example reports.   Also, several SR resources worth mentioning include:<\/h2>\n