16: SA 8000

Social Accountability 8000 (SA 8000) is one of the first auditable social standards aimed at promoting labor rights for workers around the world. This certification is currently considered the most important in the field of corporate social responsibility.

According to SA 8000, the organization that seeks certification – besides respecting national, international, and industry regulations – shall consider the requirements defined in the standard.

After describing the SA 8000 requirements, the chapters describe strengths and weaknesses of this standard. The chapter closes with a literature review of the studies that jointly analyzes SA 8000 with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 showing the opportunities of an integrated quality management system.