Good News from Social Accountability International

kristySRI/ESG News

SAI is proud to recognize Tata Steel’s three-time achievement of SA8000 certification, which was awarded at a presentation ceremony in Jamshedpur, India on August 27. The certificate was presented by SAAS-Accredited certification body, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to Tata Steel for its ongoing compliance with SA8000. The company has achieved three successful cycles of SA8000 certification in 2004, 2007 and 2010, as SA8000 certification is up for renewal every 3 years.

Present at the ceremony were H M Nerurkar, Managing Director of Tata Steel; Sanji Paul, Vice President of Corporate Services at Tata Steel and Chairman of the Managing Review Committee of SA8000; and Raghunath Pandey, President of the Tata Workers’ Union. They presented with the certificate by N R Krishnakumar, Director of Operations, DNV Business Assurance, and Prasun Kundu, Chief Auditor from DNV.

During his acceptance speech, Mr. Nerurkar congratulated all employees and the core SA8000 team for helping to achieve this feat, and cautioned that as years pass, the norms to attain such certificates will become even more stringent and hence the company will strive for more improvement. He also mentioned the need to continue with the guidelines set forth by the first Chairman of the Company, Sir Dorabji Tata, over 100 years ago. This ceremony on August 27 was especially symbolic, as it marked the 151st anniversary of Sir Dorabji Tata’s birth.

Additionally, Mr. Paul noted that in the future, Tata Steel would also focus on the service areas, and that the SA8000 standard would require continuing improvement in communication to contractors, suppliers and vendors. The company would also bring global standards into the working conditions of workers and employees while bringing a business context into stakeholder engagement at all levels.

Tata Steel was one of the three companies profiled in the 2009 joint case studies published by SAI and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), “From Words to Action: A Business Case for Implementing Workplace Standards.” The case study focused on the development of Tata Steel’s enhanced contract worker and supplier practices regarding training, pay practices, food and water provision, health and safety, procurement and contract management. Additionally, the company developed supplier training on the key elements and business benefits of social compliance, extended certain benefits available to regular employees to contracted labor and established learning centers to educate laborers on workers rights. To read the case study, click here

Click here to read the newsletter.