SA8000: Buy implementation support with clear limits

Buy implementation support with clear limits

If a consultancy offer includes the certification decision, separate the proposed work from the independently accredited CAB’s role. Agree a gap assessment, worker-practice review, responsibilities and implementation records. Confirm who will answer CAB questions and who owns original payroll data. A preparation service may identify unresolved issues; it cannot contractually guarantee that the CAB accepts them.

Preparation and the independent assessment body

Review gaps, opportunities for workers to speak and management ownership of corrective work. Discuss certification with a CAB listed in SAAS’s current register; check its country scope and approval to assess the 2026 edition. The applicant implements the system and prepares procedures specific to its own operations and operating records. A certification enquiry to Kayra concerns actual activities, sites, application information, authority and impartiality risks; this role does not include designing or implementing the client’s system. A management-system certification body, other parts of the same legal entity and controlled entities cannot offer or provide management-system consultancy; separate contracts do not remove this restriction.

Worker participation and implementation evidence

Connect recruitment contracts, agency arrangements, safety risks, operational controls and grievance handling to the defined scope. Arrange access to interviews while protecting privacy; coaching scripted answers is not evidence. Record each finding, cause, responsible person and effectiveness check. Signed policies or completed training lists alone may not demonstrate everyday conditions, particularly where worker accounts and operating records disagree.

Official sources

Checked: 3 October 2026. Worked examples are hypothetical evidence-planning cases, not customer transactions.

• sa-intl.org
• sa-intl.org
• sa-intl.org