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| Sunday, 20 January 2002 |
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Workshop focuses on social accountability The social accountability standard SA 8000, which is regarded as conducive for working conditions, clearly disapproves of child labour. The age limit for a child to be employed differs from country to country. Generally, a child has to be more than 15 years of age in order to be employed. In Egypt 14-year old children can be employed, Badrinath Gulur, Consultant of Link Company, Switzerland said. If a child is employed, an employer has to look into the well-being of the child specially with regard to the fact that his/her mental and physical growth is not affected by being employed. If safety uniforms are provided, they have to fit the child's requirements. If an audit team visits a factory and sees a child helping a mother, stern action should be taken against the management. Therefore, non-governmental organisations' help can be used in order to provide schooling for the children, he said at a recent workshop on the 'Social Accountability 8000 Standards.' He further stated that SA 8000 is based on the principles of international human rights that are prescribed by International Labour Organisation conventions. The SA 8000 standards state that every employee is provided with safe working conditions and that all safety regulations are observed. SA 8000 has nine core areas - child labour, forced labour, health and safety, compensation, working hours, discrimination, discipline, free association and collective bargaining. The workshop was organised by the Export Development Board (EDB) in collaboration with Social Accountability International-based organisation. It was organised to make managers aware of core areas of SA 8000 which will lead to improve workplace conditions and could pave the way for managers to ensure a safe and decent work environment. Some of the topics that were discussed at the seminar were general introduction to workplace codes of conduct and the SA 8000 standard, auditing of SA 8000 systems, costs and benefits of certification and compliance and critical issues in ensuring compliance with SA 8000 on a continuous basis. Presentations were also made by Ritu Kumar, Environmental Economist from Commonwealth Secretariat and Ramanie Pathirage, Manager Consumer Product Services, and Auditor SA 8000 Sri Lanka representative. Manel Pandittesekere Rodrigo, Additional Director-General of the EDB in her welcome address said discussions with many European and American buyers have brought to light the need to comply with ethical and social standards in addition to the traditional price and quality demands. Around 35 participants from the garment sector were present at this workshop. |
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