FSSC 24000 Series - Part 1: Exploring the New Social Management System Certification

Listen to the 1st episode of our Assurance in Action podcast series on FSSC 24000.

We're thrilled to welcome our special guest, Jacqueline Southee the North American Representative at Foundation FSSC. In this episode, we explore the key features and benefits of implementing an FSSC 24000 social management system, and how it can significantly enhance an organization's sustainability performance. Tune in now!

For more information on FSSC 24000, visit our website or contact us to learn more on how we can support your organization in its journey towards the FSSC 24000 scheme.

Speakers:

• Jacqueline Southee, FSSC 24000 North America representative at FSSC Foundation
• Florencia Bahamonde, Sr. Global Program Manager at Intertek Business Assurance Innovation 

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Transcript

Natalia Farina  0:01
Hello and welcome to Intertek Assurance in Action podcast! My name is Natalia Farina. I'm the Global Marketing Manager for Business Assurance with Intertek, and I'll be your host for this episode. 

Today, we have the pleasure of having Jacqueline Southee, the FSSC 24000 North America representative, interviewed by Florencia Bahamonde from Intertek’s Innovation team. They will be discussing the main features and benefits that a social management can provide to organizations to enhance their sustainability performance. Welcome, Jacqueline and Florencia!

 Jacqueline Southee   0:39
 Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

 Florencia Bahamonde 0:41
 Many thanks for joining us, Jacqueline!
 It's also a pleasure to have you here. So, let's dive right in the basic first: what is FSSC 24000?

 Jacqueline Southee   0:51
 So FSSC 24000 is a certification scheme for social management systems.
 It's focused on ensuring social sustainability within the supply chains and it's aim is to improve social responsibility and compliance with international labor standards.
 It offers ISO based certification to audit social sustainability management systems and ensures safe and earthquake safe and fair working conditions.
 The key components include social management systems, ethical sourcing, fair labor practices, health and safety, and community engagement.

 Florencia Bahamonde 1:30
 That covers many areas! But, who can apply for FSSC 24000 certification?
 Is it only for companies from the food and beverage sectors?

 Jacqueline Southee   1:41
 No, not at all, no. So we were expanded.
 So any organization, regardless of size or industry, can apply for FSSC 24000 and benefit from the certification.
 It's particularly beneficial for companies looking to enhance their social responsibility credentials.
 We do have some exceptions, like tobacco and tobacco products, fur and fur trading, weapons, explosives and ammunition and nuclear fuel products, so we don't cover those, but we cover the rest of the consumer goods industry and manufacturing. It is aligned to the ISO management harmonized framework, so any companies that have already implemented any ISO management systems will definitely see the benefit of integrating 24000.

 Florencia Bahamonde 2:29
 That's really good to know. I believe organizations would like to know how they can start the certification process and how long it takes. Can you explain how it works?

 Jacqueline Southee   2:39
 Yeah. How long it takes really will depend on the, you know, the organization and the size and its activities. But first of all, we suggest that organizations begin by downloading all the scheme documents from our website and conducting a gap analysis to understand, you know, your current practices and how they compare in relation to the 24000 requirements.
 Then, after conducting a risk analysis of your situation and your company, you can develop and implement a social management system that that meets these standards.
 And, as I said, all resources including guidance documents, are available on the FSSC website and we've got more resources, you know, guidance documents coming.
 So, once prepared, once you've kind of gone through the documents and done your risk analysis and looked at all your operations, contact an approved certification body like Intertek and they can go through the audit process with you and after that you can address any non-conformities where you don't line up which would identify during the audit and then after a successful audit you'll receive an FSSC 24000 certificate.
 So, I think the timeline, as I said really depends on the organization's size and readiness, but probably it could take several months to a year to achieve certification.
 And but initial certification is followed.
 So it's a three year certification process and it's a nicer management system.
 And then you have annual surveillance audits on the two intervening years.
 But certification lasts for three years.

 Florencia Bahamonde 4:20
 OK, great. Thanks for walking us the process, Jacqueline.

Looking at the current regulatory landscape, how does it FSSC 24000 certification help mitigate supply chain risk and comply with current regulatory requirements?

 Jacqueline Southee   4:34
 Well, that's a very good question because obviously the legislation is a driver.
 There's a lot of a legislation for sustainability being developed and FSSC 24000 really was developed with this regulatory landscape in mind.
 So, it does help companies, you know, meet the legislation.
 And it encourages companies to engage with their suppliers and to adhere to the social responsibility standards and essentially fostering better relationships with ethical suppliers looking at the supply chain; organizations can reduce risk of disruptions caused by labor disputes, sort of unethical practices and negative publicity which you know company really doesn't need related to social issues.
 So, certification requires companies to sort of assess and address social risks within their supply chain. It's very important to monitor that and the risks would include child labor, sort of discrimination, unsafe working conditions, all of these are targeted, obviously, by the legislation and due diligence requirements.
 So, you know, by promoting transparency and accountability, FSSC 24000 certification helps identify and mitigate potential risks, ensuring compliance with the regulations and providing a means for reporting.
 So, the regulations are required due diligence and reporting and all of these are sort of covered by FSSC 24000 in the social responsibility and labor standards.
 Also it's a management system certification 24000 promotes continuous improvement. So, that's very important too, because that's required. It's an ongoing situation and this is achieved so sort of through the plan do check act approach with the management system and this requires internal audits, reviews and continuous updates to, you know, achieve social responsibility practices.
 So, it's continuous monitoring, enhancing social management systems.
 Companies can adopt to changing regulations, then they also meet the stakeholder expectations and, you know, improve the social dynamics within the supply chain.
 So, but there are other certification programs out there in the field, so I have a question for you. As the expert in the certification field, how do you see the FSSC 24000 is different from other social audit, existing audit stat responsibility standards like for instance SMETA?

 Florencia Bahamonde 7:09
 Absolutely. FSSC 24000 and SMETA are both social responsibility schemes aimed at improving ethical practices within supply chains. However, they differ in several key aspects, including their structure, scope, and approach to certification and audit process. 

I can highlight some key differences: 

·       FSSC 24000 offers formal certification, indicating compliance with established social responsibility standards, while SMETA provides a framework for social audits but does not offer formal certification.

·       Regarding the scope, FSSC 24000 covers a broad range of social sustainability aspects, whereas SMETA focuses on specific pillars (Labor Standards, Health and Safety, Environment, and Business Ethics).

·       FSSC 24000 is recognized as a standalone certification for social sustainability, while SMETA is widely used as an audit methodology within the Sedex community for assessing supply chains. 

I want to spotlight the ISO management system framework required by FSSC 24000. This framework is crucial as it mandates a comprehensive risk assessment of the entire supply chain. This requirement aligns with the CS Triple D and also the Canadian Modern Slavery Act.
 We're seeing an increasing number of laws demanding such assessments, and interestingly, some of this legislation is incorporating ISO-aligned language.

The aim is not to pick the winner here, but to highlight the different approaches. Organizations may choose between them based on their specific needs, industry requirements, and goals for social responsibility.

 Jacqueline Southee   8:54
 Yeah, absolutely, and it's good to understand the differences.
 We believe that the risk-based approach of the ISO management system, you know, is important here.
 So, we do see the benefits of that obviously through our experience with 22000’s.
 So, thank you for highlighting those differences.

 Natalia Farina  9:10
 Yeah, that's great, absolutely.
 Thank you both actually for explaining the details of this new certification. 

Florencia, could you please share how Intertek can assist on this process and what the next steps are for those who want to start their certification journey?

 Florencia Bahamonde 9:31
 For sure, Intertek can definitely help. As a leading assurance provider with the largest auditor network worldwide, Intertek supports organizations at every step. We offer gap analysis, training, and full auditing services to ensure that social management systems meet the FSSC 24000 standards.

 Natalia Farina 9:50
 That's great, thank you.
 And, Jacqueline, any final thoughts on the importance of adopting the FSSC 24,000 standard?

 Jacqueline Southee   10:00
 Yes, absolutely, and actually I'd like to take the opportunity just to provide a couple of really important updates that up to the minute that recently just been announced.
 So, first of all, FSSC 24000 has been benchmarked and is recognized by the SCCI the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative, pictures part of the Consumer Goods Forum.
 And then so that's extremely important because that provides a guidance to the consumer goods industry on the best practice.
 So, having that recognition is a good advantage, a big benefit for 24000. In addition actually announced today, we are pleased to announce that 24000 has been integrated by the International Trade Center into the ITC standards map.
 So this is great because this is also further endorsement of the management system approach of 24000.
 So, when companies are looking for a sustainability standard, they'll look to some of these recognitions, so we're pleased to announce that. 

Because of that sort of 24000 helps organizations show their commitment to social responsibility and sustainability and that's very important because it ensures brand reputation.
 And as we've mentioned earlier, the reputation of a company is very important and it's very easily lost.
 So and also it reduces risks in the supply chain that could endanger this.
 And, as we also mentioned, just enables compliance to the international labor standards and regulations.
 So we really want to work with industry and we believe that we're providing a mechanism for companies to be able to do this, which both benefits both organizations and its stakeholders.

 Florencia Bahamonde 11:38
 These are really good news.
 Thank you, Jacqueline, for joining us today and also demonstrating the joint initiative between Intertek and the FSSC Foundation to promote this valuable standard.

 Natalia Farina 11:51
 That's great, thank you very much, Jacqueline and Florencia.
 That concludes today's episode of FSSC 24000: Exploring the New Social Management System Certification. We hope you found the discussion insightful. Remember, Intertek is here to support your organization’s social sustainability goals wherever you do business, with our extensive expertise and global auditor network. Thank you for listening!

Goodbye for now.