The role of producers in the BSCI Process

The objective of BSCI participants is to improve the working conditions of their supplying factories and farms through the implementation of the BSCI development-oriented system. Good co-operation between BSCI participants and their producers is of strategic importance to ensure a sustainable supply chain.

How to be involved in the BSCI?

The BSCI participation is not open to producers. If you are producing for a BSCI participant, the following procedure applies to be involved in our system.

• Your main contact is the BSCI participant who invites to the BSCI process: when implementing the BSCI process in your factory, you will be mainly in contact with the BSCI participants, thus your customer who requires you to be involved in BSCI. Make sure you have all the necessary details of the representative of your customer to ensure an efficient communication.
• The BSCI Code of Conduct: Make sure you have received the BSCI Code of Conduct from your BSCI customer. Sign and display it in the appropriate language on the premises of the factory to be audited.
• Fix the date of the audit: Get in contact with your BSCI customer in order to fix a date for an audit. Either you or your customer orders the audit from the auditing companies listed in the BSCI accredited auditors list.
• Creation of your record: Your BSCI customer will create a record in the BSCI producer database with the name of your factory. The database system will automatically forward a login access to your record in the BSCI database to you.
• Fill in the BSCI Self-Assessment: As a preparation for the audit, fill in the online Self-Assessment questionnaire with the login codes which you receive by email once your BSCI member customer has created your account in the BSCI database. The Self-Assessment will give you a good overview of the level of compliance of your factory to the BSCI requirements and prepares you for the BSCI social audit.
• The audit takes place: Auditors will schedule a date to visit your factory and do an inspection of the facilities and your records. Workers and management interviews are important part of this process. The length of the audit is related to the number of workers at your facility. Please collaborate with the auditors to provide timely and accurate information.
• Audit Report: After the BSCI audit has taken place, the auditing company will send you a copy of the audit report. At the latest of 10 days after the audit has taken place, the auditing company should upload the audit results to the database record, these should be visible to you through your login access. Review the audit report, check your level of compliance with the BSCI code of conduct and implement corrective actions.
• Follow-up and improvement: The process will also be followed up by your BSCI contact person having direct contact with you. If you need additional help in implementing the BSCI Code of Conduct, the BSCI regularly organises capacity building activities in various producer countries. Producers will receive an invitation from customer in order to attend the training course. You can contact a consultant or trainer to help you design appropriate management systems. The BSCI Service Provider Directory provides details of all the training and consulting organisations which have expertise in implementation of the BSCI system.
• Best practice: We consider the standard SA8000, developed by Social Accountability International, as our best practice, if your organisation has been certified SA8000 it is not necessary to go through a BSCI audit. You would just need to be linked to a BSCI participant and send them a copy of your certificate which will be uploaded onto the BSCI database.