Responsible Supply Chain Assessment for Service Providers

We define a service provider as a business partner that provides services rather than tangible products. Such services include:

• Labor agencies providing temporary staffing services
• Security
• Canteen
• Sanitation
• Transportation
• Construction

A service provider may be a company or an individual that deploys their workers to your site to provide a service or temporary staff to support your production or processes.

Importantly, a service provider may also contract/subcontract other companies or individuals to provide some or all services.

Due to the business structure and dynamic nature of service providers, and the number of workers deployed to various locations outside their organization, the types and levels of risks can dramatically vary between the traditional single location, manufacturing and brick and mortar site. Understanding your supply chain and service providers’ scope is crucial for effectively planning and executing service provider assessments.

This service is an evolution of our RSCA proprietary tool, which aligns with international standards and current and developing regulatory expectations, including greater supply chain transparency. The customizable RSCA evaluates human rights risks and impacts across all industries and, by utilizing add-on modules, focuses on types of business and specific working environment risks and impacts.

Our global network of supply chain experts, armed with decades of social audit expertise, assess the performance and maturity of a multitude of aspects and their systemic management, including referencing International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions and all ILO forced labor indicators, as well as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, among numerous others. Our list includes:

• Management systems and human rights due diligence
• Compliance with laws and your requirements
• Forced, young and child labor
• Responsible recruitment
• Freedom of association and collective bargaining
• Grievance mechanisms and disciplinary practices
• Discrimination, diversity and equality
• Working hours
• Wages and benefits
• Health and safety
• Environment
• Ethical business (anti-bribery and integrity)

Our RSCA for service providers assessment evaluates the areas noted above and applies to all service providers. However, variations among service providers may create different risks due to the nature of the service providers, the industry and/or working environment in which they operate.

Our RSCA modules add components, including additional assessment points to capture these potential risks. This strengthens the assessment of different service providers and includes, for example, targeted questions about:

• Management systems and due diligence
• Forced labor and responsible recruitment
• Grievance mechanisms and disciplinary practices
• Wages and working hours
• And more

The questions assess the service provider’s oversight concerning human rights compliance and worker conditions at deployment sites.

We consider all common social audit planning, execution and reporting challenges to ensure effective and efficient assessment management. During the planning phase, we carefully determine the audit and physical scopes, which will vary from the traditional single-site social audit, particularly considering the large number of remote workers and locations where workers might be deployed.

We also consider the complexities around accessing multiple sites, documents, records and workers at client locations, as well as coordinating interviews and/or authorizing site tours.

Finally, our expert social auditors receive guidance on reporting, especially considering management systems and accountability, to ensure an understanding of stakeholder responsibility for remediation.