Technically, social compliance audits in garment and textile sector are formal reviews of a company’s
procedures, and code of conduct regarding social responsibility and the company’s impact on society. It is
an assessment of how well the company is achieving its goals or benchmarks to be compliant to social
obligations.
StarDon Manufacturing Solutions PLC has been established to provide such services to garment & textile
manufacturing facilities. Some of the common social audits schemes for which our company can provide
consulting service include WRAP (Worldwide Accredited Production), BSCI (Business Social Compliance
Initiative), SMETA (Sedex Member Ethical Trade Audits) and other second party audits. We have APSCA
member auditors, who participated in more 140 social audits. Our consultants are also auditors for ISO
management system and quality audits.
During social audit implementation, our consultants can assist the facility by providing training services
and establishing social management system as launchpad to implement the system. Our consultants and
auditors will assist the facility to able to comply to requirements.

Key social compliance audit requirements – – – – – –
Comply with local laws and regulations of Ethiopia,
Track legal and regulatory changes made to the local labor laws (e.g. minimum wage, working
hours, benefits, child labor, forced labor, health and safety, freedom of association, etc.).
Keep business licenses and other documents required by law in order and up-to-date and make
them available for inspection when requested,
All employees are provided with a copy of their signed employment agreement (written in their
native language) that describes the nature of their worker arrangement, terms, and duration of
their employment contract, starting wages and overtime wages, work hours and holidays, benefits
and deductions, resignation and termination conditions,
Life threatening situations for workers can and will not be tolerated,
Child and forced or bonded labor issues are critical.
Indicators of non-compliances – –
Violations of the law or any of the requirements of the given standard,
Unfamiliarity with legal requirements,

– –
Workers are not trained and unaware of their legal rights,
Lack of internal controls to monitor the labor law and the absence of any internal audits to ensure
compliance with the law.
Out of date permits, licenses, and other documents necessary to do business in compliance with the
law.

Best Practices
Keep written procedures in place, with a designated responsible management representative, to ensure third
parties are easily aware of and understands changes that are made to the local labor laws. Changes are
communicated to all relevant personnel, and necessary adjustments are made by the in a timely manner to
ensure compliance with the law. – – –
Maintain copies or summaries of all applicable laws. Periodically review work rules and
employment handbook to ensure it is aligned with the current law at a minimum.
Factory does not have exemptions from legal requirements, e.g., working hours, wages.
Factory periodically monitors its compliance with the local law and the requirements of its
customers.
Major social audit areas include compliance to local laws, forced labor, child labor, harassment & abuse,
working hours, compensations & benefits, discrimination, health and safety, freedom of association,
environmental compliance, customs compliance, security, subcontracting and general working
environment. Our consultants and auditors will do gap analysis of facility against the above requirements
through before the facility recruit external audit company for auditing services.

Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) –
Verify your compliance with Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP)
manufacturing principles with a WRAP audit.
Better Cotton Initiative –
Measuring Cotton Consumption: Independent Assessments Confirm your cotton fiber
consumption measurement with an independent assessment– ensuring accuracy and
credibility in your sustainability efforts.

amfori BSCI –
Understand and monitor your business partners’ performance against amfori BSCI’s Code
of Conduct (COC
SMETA audit to report on processes and the situation. –
4.
To evaluate this, a set of requirements, known as the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) Base
Code, has been formed as a benchmark standard (based on ILO conventions). Sedex (the
scheme owner) has enhanced this with additional elements. This is what you will be audited
against, in addition to local legislation and specified customer requirements.