SIZA is a continuous improvement programme, and we firmly believe that implementing improvements once the audit is completed is a form of sustainability for now and in the future. To ensure that the improvements can be implemented, SIZA offers the following assistance and programmes:
- The SIZA team regularly contacts audited sites to ensure all non-compliances are attended to and closed successfully. This assists with ensuring business improvement and effective risk management.
- The programme offers a Best Practice programme that motivates businesses to go above and beyond minimum compliance requirements. These practices can become visible on their profiles to buyers, creating a balance between audit corrections and the farm’s intention to embrace compliance. There is already so much good happening in South African agriculture, which needs to be awarded and acknowledged.
- The Remedy Solution Programme forms part of the support programme, whereby suppliers can get assistance from experts and industry experts approved and acknowledged by SIZA to implement corrective actions after the audit or even in preparation for the audit day.
- To ensure adequate quality review and control, SIZA reviews audit reports monthly to ensure that the quality of the reports and audits conducted aligns with the SIZA audit requirements. A risk-based approach is taken when reviewing audit quality and audit report quality to ensure that they align with SIZA auditing requirements and global market needs.
- SIZA subscribers are subject to in-between audit monitoring, where their SAQ and last CAP reports are reviewed and discussed to validate their 3- or 2-year audit validity.
- After the audit process has taken place and the supplier does not correlate with the non-conformance given at the end of the audit, SIZA has a programme where the supplier can dispute the non-conformances through an independent process.
- SIZA also offers a bridging period to allow suppliers to complete correction actions.
- Furthermore, SIZA invested in a free toolkit consisting of guidelines, templates, posters, videos, and various training and webinars to assist suppliers.
- SIZA also invests in audit monitoring visits in preparation for the audit day, where in-person assistance can be requested.
SIZA’s third-party audit firms frequently recruit new auditors. To be accepted and approved to conduct third-party SIZA audits, these auditors are trained comprehensively by the audit firms, SIZA, and their regulatory bodies. New auditors and qualified lead auditors must attend SIZA calibration training and interview technique training, where they must write an assessment that is used to determine their competency and auditing capabilities.
To illustrate how the quality programme of audit firms and corrective actions on farms come together, we can look at the impact of improvements through corrective actions. From 1 April 2016 until 30 October 2024, 37 617 findings were raised during third-party audits, and 36 311 of these findings have already successfully been closed out and received improvements in practices. This means that 97% of all findings have been adequately resolved since 2016. SIZA believes that continuous improvement is part of sustainability and needs to be implemented by suppliers, auditors, and retailers.
