Some approved auditors provide a checklist that covers initial procedures, amfori BSCI auditing protocol, and additional actions discussed in the amfori BSCI Easy Guide 2.0. You can use this checklist to do your own initial evaluation before you have an auditor go to your suppliers.
What Does the amfori BSCI Audit Checklist Include?
Part 1: Plan
Nominate the main contact person. This is a person in your organization or a representative organization that will communicate between all parties (you, your supplier, and amfori). Your main contact person shall develop a working plan, implement it internally and see that it “cascades” through the supply chain.
Develop and implement a “due diligence” strategy. A company should first become familiar with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, and then implement its “due diligence” strategy on itself.
Do not rush. amfori recommends investing an adequate amount of time to hash out short-, medium- and long-term goals, with an initial focus on the company’s internal operations.
Conduct internal questions first. Do current practices measure up to the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct and the company’s own responsible targets? amfori believes that a responsible company must first monitor their own activities before looking at their supply chain’s behavior.
Accordingly, all amfori BSCI approved auditing services must first adhere to the amfori BSCI monitoring criteria and the Code of Conduct before their audits can be considered “amfori BSCI Standard”.
Part 2: Do
Complete your plan. A polished “due diligence” plan should be established in accordance with the amfori BSCI Terms of Implementation (TOI) and the COC.
Share it with all business partners. Business partners must be given the plan and the COC to familiarize themselves. Once they have made a formal agreement to participate in the process, they are added to the amfori BSCI partner pool and placed under the lead company’s direct responsibility.
Map out your supply chain. amfori’s unified member platform allows you to easily map out your supply chain in detail and share pertinent supply chain information with fellow members.
Make initial assessments.
- Describe each supplier’s relationship with one another
- Evaluate their relative importance to your business
- Note all of their vulnerabilities in terms of social risk
Part 3: Check
Monitor business partners. It is the decision of the participating amfori BSCI business — also known as the “responsibility” (RSP) company — to determine which business partners they will monitor. The amfori BSCI Easy Guide offers guidelines for determining which partners should be monitored — and they recommend that all monitoring decisions be made during the mapping stage of the implementation process.
Determining which business partners to monitor depends on certain factors, including:
- If they have a production work environment
- If the level of trust about their social performance is not acceptable
- If the level of maturity is insufficient to maintain good social performance
Business partners can be exempt from monitoring if they do not include a production work environment and their social performance is viewed as acceptable in accordance with the COC.
All business partners involved must commit to the COC and the TOI. They must also agree to be monitored by the RSP company.
Begin the auditing process. For lead member companies, an internal audit must be conducted to assess their own social performance and/or that of their own business partners, including farms.
External audits, conducted across the supply chain, shall be performed by an approved, independent auditing company, based on amfori BSCI criteria. The amfori BSCI auditing report format must be used, and all scheduling and reporting must be done through the amfori BSCI platform.
The audit measures 13 areas in correspondence with the amfori BSCI COC, including:
- Social Management System and Cascade Effect
- Workers Involvement and Protection
- The Rights of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
- No Discrimination
- Fair Remuneration
- Decent Working Hours
- Occupational Health and Safety
- No Child Labor
- Special Protection for Young Workers
- No Precarious Employment
- No Bonded Labor
- Protection of the Environment
- Ethical Business Behavior
Some performance areas are considered critical, “Zero Tolerance” issues requiring immediate action upon discovery. Such areas of concern are child labor; bonded labor; ethical behavior; and any case of immediate threat to workers’ life, health, and safety.
amfori BSCI provides a grading system along with corresponding consequences based on auditing results.
Remediate. Based on auditing results, remediation measures should be made to foster continuous improvement over the short and long-term. amfori believes that, by instilling the COC into a business partner’s business culture, positive, fundamental changes can happen.
Part 4: Adjust
Conduct follow-up reviews as necessary. Following up on a supply chain’s prescribed improvement tasks should go beyond the auditing process. Here is where the amfori BSCI “engagement” philosophy comes full circle. Auditing is an essential step in the process, however, amfori encourages businesses to go further by actively engaging with supply chain companies so they can develop their own empowerment plans for social improvement.
Through measures such as “communication and dialogue,” “capacity building,” and “incentivization,” an RSP company can help their partners raise their social performance.