ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Performance Assessment Checklist

Around the world, organizations and stakeholders alike are recognizing the need for socially responsible behavior. By enacting socially responsible policies and procedures, organizations can contribute to sustainable development.

ISO 26000 is designed to support organizations achieve sustainable development.

Organizations are encouraged to see their corporate social responsibilities as more than mere legal compliance, and ISO 26000 serves as a bridge for implementing actionable policies and procedures in-line with socially responsible and sustainable practices.

ISO 26000 is the result of a 10-year long international collaborative effort designed to innovate standards for corporate sustainable development.

Aimed at forming consensus based on a multi-stakeholder participatory approach, ISO 26000 offers guidelines for a common understanding of social responsibility, to be applied together with other certifications and standards for management systems like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc.

This checklist is designed to run an internal performance assessment on your organization, to assess the implementation of guidelines outlined in ISO 26000.

This checklist is designed as a supplement, and is not intended to replace ISO 26000.

For best results, users are encouraged to edit the checklist and modify the contents to best suit their use cases, as it cannot provide specific guidance on the particular risks and controls applicable to every situation.

Typically, CSR performance assessments will require custom checklists that reflect the specific scope, scale, and objectives of the organization being assessed.

Before beginning preparations for the assessment, enter some basic details using the form fields below.

If this process involves multiple people, you can use the members form field to allow the person running this checklist to select and assign additional individuals.

For example, if management is running this checklist, they may wish to assign the lead internal auditor after completing the basic audit details.

In order to determine and understand the context of the assessment, the individuals in charge of managing the assessment should take into account the organization’s:

Record the context of the assessment in the form field below.

The individuals managing the assessment should establish clear assessment objectives.

Record assessment objectives in the form field below.

The individuals managing the assessment should establish the scope of the assessment.

Record assessment scope in the form field below.

The individuals responsible for managing the assessment should make contact with the organization being assessed and ensure the following:

Request all existing relevant ISO 26000 documentation from the organization being assessed. You can use the form field below to quickly and easily request this information

The lead auditor should obtain and review all documentation of the auditee’s management system.

This will help to prepare for individual audit activities, and will serve as a high-level overview from which the lead auditor will be able to better identify and understand areas of concern or nonconformity.

Documented information is an umbrella term that could refer to:

• Processes (either recorded on paper or with software)
• Management system documents and records
• Previous audit reports

The above list is by no means exhaustive. The lead auditor should also take into account individual audit scope, objectives, and criteria.

Reference material, such as individual ISO standards, will be useful at this point.

Using the form fields below, record any issues of nonconformities observed.

Using the form field below, describe the issue(s) with documented information so far, and the steps taken to resolve the issue(s). 

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of accountability.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of transparency.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of ethical behavior.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of respect for stakeholder interests.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of respect for rule of law.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of respect for international norms of behavior.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS principle of respect for human rights.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the corporate social responsibility of stakeholder identification and engagement.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of organizational governance.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of human rights.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of labor practices.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of environmental policy.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of fair operating practices.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of consumer issues.

Using the form fields below, record your findings pertaining to how the organization has addressed the CRS core subject of community involvement and development.

Below you will find the completed ISO 26000 assessment in a convenient report format, collated from all of the input to the checklist so far.

Principles of social responsibility

Accountability

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_accountability}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_accountability}}

Transparency

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_transparency}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_transparency}}

Ethical behavior

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_ethical_behavior}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_ethical_behavior}}

Respect for stakeholder interests

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_respect_for_stakeholder_interests}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_respect_for_stakeholder_interests}}

Respect for rule of law

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_respect_for_rule_of_law}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_respect_for_rule_of_law}}

Respect for international norms of behavior

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_respect_for_international_norms_of_behavior}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_respect_for_international_norms_of_behavior}}

Respect for human rights

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_respect_for_human_rights}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_respect_for_human_rights}}

Stakeholders

Stakeholder identification and engagement

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_stakeholder_identification_and_engagement}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_stakeholder_identification_and_engagement}}

Core subjects

Organizational governance

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_organizational_governance}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_organizational_governance}}

Human rights

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_human_rights}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_human_rights}}

Labor practices

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_labor_practices}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_labor_practices}}

Environmental policy

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_environmental_policy}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_environmental_policy}}

Fair operating practices

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_fair_operating_practices}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_fair_operating_practices}}

Consumer issues

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_consumer_issues}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_consumer_issues}}

Community involvement and development

Assessment: {{form.Assessment_of_community_involvement_and_development}}

Suggestions: {{form.Suggestions_regarding_community_involvement_and_development}}

It’s important that you send the ISO 26000 assessment report to your client immediately, so they have the best chance to act on the results of the assessment in a timely manner.

• ISO – ISO 26000:2010
• ISO – ISO 19011:2018
• ISO – Consolidated ISO Supplement
• ISO – Management System Standards
• ISO – ISO 9001:2015
• ISO – ISO 45001:2018
• ISO – ISO 27001:2013
• Samuel O. Idowu, Catalina Sitnikov, Lars Moratis – ISO 26000 – A Standardized View on Corporate Social Responsibility
• Martin Hinsch – ISO 9001:2015 for Everyday Operations
• David Lilburn Watson, Andrew Jones – Digital Forensics Processing and Procedures: Meeting the Requirements of ISO 17020, ISO 17025, ISO 27001 and Best Practice Requirements

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