Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) Best Practice Guidance

The auditor should gain an understanding how the trade union is organised at a local level and its relationships
with workers and management.
Note: It is useful to ask the general workforce if they know who their worker / union representatives are.
7.3.8 Protection of Interviewees and use of Interview Information
The protection of workers and others against the possibility of reprisals must be paramount in all audit planning,
and especially during interviewing.
In order to protect workers from retaliation, the names of workers involved in identifying an issue must never be
divulged to the employment site, supplier or audit requestor, nor must they be included in the audit report.
Note: The auditor may need to keep identity information for traceability reasons but this must not be disclosed.
7.3.9 Alert Notifications and Supplementary Information
In exceptional circumstances where the best interests of the worker cannot be met without disclosure of their
identity (for example, names of child workers where the auditor fears they may be sacked without any
remediation) the auditor can communicate this information to the appropriate audit reviewers using an offline tool.
Any issues of a sensitive nature, or unsubstantiated information should not be mentioned to the site if this
endangers workers. However they may be reported confidentially and separately to the brand / retailer via an
alert notification. These must not be uploaded on to Sedex, to protect the confidentiality of the worker. Auditors
should check with the brand / retailer to ascertain whether such tools are required.
Examples of appropriate tools are available at the Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP) website:
l ‘Supplementary audit report’ for sensitive issues.
l ‘Alert notification’ where immediate communication is advisable.
Samples of these can be found at GSCP. Please see Appendix 4 of GSCP Reference Tools on Audit Process
and Methodology.
The auditor should always check if formal alert notifications or supplementary reports are required. These
should NOT be uploaded to Sedex.
See Appendix A6: “Supplementary Reports & Alert Notifications”.
CHECKLIST - PROTECTION OF INTERVIEWEES
SMETA Best Practice Guidance (4-Pillar Version 4.0, May 2012)
The following steps are essential to protect the identity of workers who divulge information during interview:
l A sufficiently large sample of workers needs to be interviewed so that points raised are not attributable.
The auditor should also consider the use of individual rather than group interviews to achieve a higher
level of confidentiality.
l The auditor should keep a confidential note of who is being interviewed so that workers can be
protected in future if necessary.
28
BACK TO CONTENTS