SA8000: Set the organisation and edition boundary

Set the organisation and edition boundary

For a first application, define sites, workforce and outsourced labour before choosing the CAB. For an existing certificate, record the edition and last certification or recertification year first. A training record does not move a 2014 certificate to 2026. The preparation plan must distinguish an initial certification from the actual transition route.

Define the SA8000:2026 scope

SA8000 concerns workplace conditions and the system managing them. Define preparation through worker rights, recruitment, hours, pay, occupational safety, privacy and grievance mechanisms, rather than treating it as a product quality certificate. SAI’s current standard is SA8000:2026. Confirm in writing which edition the assessment body will use for the proposed audit.

Map workers and operating boundaries

Map permanent, seasonal and agency workers alongside production sites and outsourced operations. Scope example: payroll lists permanent staff, while agency workers operate the same line during peak season. Reconcile contracts, recruitment records, shifts and responsibility arrangements before defining the boundary. Temporary status does not justify excluding those workers’ actual conditions; a headcount limited to direct employees can hide the very work being assessed.

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.

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