SA8000 Certification

Allianz Global Assistance is the first insurance company in Italy to have received the SA8000 certification, international recognition for ethically correct conduct towards workers. A further step forward by Allianz Global Assistance in the long walk of Corporate Social Responsibility, a commitment begun in early 2008 and which led in 2009 to the achievement of the important objective of the SA8000 certification.

The SA (Social Accountability) 8000 standard is an international standard that lists the requirements for ethically correct conduct for businesses and the production chain towards workers. That guarantee consists of the assessment of compliance of the social responsibility system implemented by an organisation with the requirements of the SA8000 standard visible through the certification issued by an independent third party with a similar mechanism to that used for quality management systems in accordance with the  UNI EN ISO series 9000 standards.

SA8000 contains nine social requirements aimed at increasing the competitive capacity of those organisations that voluntarily provide a guarantee of ethical nature of their production chain and their production cycle.

The new global economic dynamics cannot, in fact, take account of fundamental issues such as:
respect of human rights;
respect of the rights of workers;
protection against exploitation of minors;
guarantees of health and safety in the workplace.

Corporate social responsibility, in fact, has implications on the good integration of companies in the local environment, both at European level and internationally.

Companies make their contribution to the community, particularly locally, by providing jobs, salaries and services, and tax revenues. Conversely, companies rely upon the good health, stability and prosperity of the communities in which they operate.

The SA8000 standard was not created in the same way as technical certifications (e.g. ISO 9000) were developed, i.e. from parameters established by committees of national experts of a specialist sector which formalise those choices into rules to be shared at national and international level, covering a long cycle that stretches from Europe (EN) to the world (ISO).

SA 8000 was created by the CEPAA (Council of Economical Priorities Accreditation Agency
www.sa-intl.org, an emanation of the CEP (Council of Economic Priorities), a US institute founded in 1969 to provide to investors and consumers, information tools to analyse the social performances of companies.  

SA 8000 is based upon conventions of the ILO (International Labour Organisation), on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and directly involves important members of the community: suppliers, customers, consumers and their associations, environmental and humanitarian groups, trade union organisations, the mass media, resident in the production area.

In addition:

it is the first international standard that MEASURES the ethical level and level of social responsibility of a company.
It is applicable at international level in ANY trade sector.

Compliance with the rules of the standard is guaranteed by a certification from an INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY, issued by ACCREDITED BODIES.

It requires, in addition to conduct, the MANAGEMENT SYSTEM to be publicly highlighted