Third-party audits

Why it’s important to make your audit part of your annual planning SIZA audits are vital in ensuring credibility, transparency, and market acceptance across the agricultural value chain. Conducted only through independent, third-party audit firms, these audits assure buyers that compliance is measured fairly and consistently. To maintain quality and accessibility, SIZA works with a… Continue reading Audit Planning – Scheduling in Advance to avoid Disappointment

For a SIZA-recognised Environmental auditor, assessing animal ecology fundamentally differs from evaluating animal welfare. While welfare focuses on the health and well-being of individual animals, animal ecology examines the interaction between livestock populations—including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry—and their surrounding environment. It is about managing all animals as integrated components of the ecosystem to… Continue reading Animal Ecology – What Does This Mean for a SIZA Environmental Audit?

During a SIZA audit, when a SIZA auditor makes a finding, the auditor must allocate a risk rating to each finding. The risk rating of the finding will be based on the root cause of the problem and certain risk factors observed on the day.

South Africa has several laws regarding asbestos, specifically on managing it when it is present on a site. The regulations give employers a clear duty to identify asbestos in place and manage it properly. This duty is also extended to employees to take care of their health and safety and also look after others who may be affected. The Asbestos Abatement Regulations, as promulgated in November 2020, set out the requirements for the disposal of asbestos under Section 21.

Effective soil management is essential for boosting farming productivity, supporting crop health, enhancing water retention, and maintaining ecosystem balance. Within the SIZA Environmental Standard, soil management is key in ensuring farm sustainability and audit compliance. While soil enhancement practices can be adapted based on specific conditions, common techniques such as soil health assessments, erosion control, nutrient management, and minimising compaction are widely used to promote soil health and prevent degradation.

SIZA strives to ensure continuous improvement within agri-businesses, allowing for economic growth, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship throughout the supply chain.

As 2020 brought about many challenges, one of the many aspects of SIZA that remained constant was our dedication to ensure quality and credible third-party audits.

SIZA social site visits were implemented as part of SIZA’s between-audit monitoring policy to verify the producer’s approved Social Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and to ensure practices remain in place between audit validity periods.

A total of 560 Social (Ethical) audits have been conducted for the period 1 January to 31 October 2020. This results in a median of 56 social audits per month. For the same period, three Environmental third-party standalone audits have taken place, and a further 13 Environmental audits are scheduled to take place in future.

The purpose of the closing meeting is to go through the findings, agree to them and to agree on a corrective action plan which sets out areas for improvement, actions, and timeframes.