B7. Food, Sanitation, and Housing

Code 8.0

Workers shall be provided with ready access to clean toilet facilities, potable water and sanitary food preparation, storage, and eating facilities. Worker dormitories provided by the facility/factory and/or via a labor agent shall be maintained to be clean and safe, and provided with appropriate emergency egress, hot water for bathing and showering, adequate lighting, and adequate conditioned ventilation, individually secured accommodations for storing personal and valuable items, and reasonable personal space along with reasonable entry and exit privileges.

Elements to Demonstrate Compliance to RBA Code

Elements to Demonstrate Compliance to RBA Code are here below and also in the Health & Safety Checklist "B7 Sanitation, Food and Housing: Checklist on worker Accommodations" later in this document.

1. Policy

Ensure company's health and safety policy includes food, sanitation and housing elements including:

• a. Dormitories, bathrooms, and employee spaces will be clean, safe, and well-maintained and meet international housing standards.
• b. General/public bathrooms, employee spaces, prayer or religious areas, cafeterias, and food areas will be clean and well-maintained.

2. Procedures & Practices

Procedures & Practices are in place such that:

• a. Worker housing (if applicable) minimum requirements:
  • i. Worker housing and sanitary facilities (common areas, hallways, restrooms, etc.) are clean and properly maintained.
  • ii. There are clear, well-lit stairwells to allow for safe exit from dormitories.
  • iii. The building is adequately conditioned.
  • iv. Windows provide light and ventilation.
  • v. Adequate lighting.
  • vi. Safe and sufficient electricity sockets are provided.
  • vii. Sufficient space is available for each worker.
  • viii. Individually secured storage accommodations are provided.

NOTE: The Worker housing requirements shall apply regardless of the nature of the contract/location/building (e.g., if rooms are rented by the facility in nearby residential areas for housing workers, these standards shall still apply)

• ix. Structure and layout:
  1. All facilities are separated by gender (except spouse rooms) and adequate in number.
  2. Lodging and cooking facilities are separate.
  3. Adequate domestic waste disposal facilities.
• b. Bathrooms, employee spaces, cafeterias, and food areas
  • i. Bathrooms, employee spaces, prayer or religious areas, cafeterias, and food areas are clean and well-maintained.
  • ii. Bathrooms, cafeterias, and food areas have adequate hand washing facilities.
  • iii. An adequate and effective cleaning and sanitation program is in place.
  • iv. An adequate and effective pest control program is in place.
• c. Food workers
  • i. Food service workers wear masks, hair nets, and gloves as necessary to prevent food contamination.
• d. Food storage
  • i. Food storage and preparation areas are clean.
  • ii. Food is stored properly (not on the floor; refrigerated if necessary).
  • iii. Raw and cooked food are stored separately, food is kept covered.
  • iv. Food is used or disposed of before the marked expiration date.

3. Controls & Monitoring

Controls & Monitoring should include:

• a. An adequate and effective preventive maintenance program (including emergency response supporting facilities) is in place.
• b. For rented apartments, a risk assessment is performed and updated if there is a Significant Change, with on-site inspections and emergency procedures.

4. Records

Records are maintained including:

• a. Monitoring records for lighting, and conditioned environments are available, accurate, complete, and up-to-date.
• b. Sanitation program tracking records are available for review and up-to-date.
• c. The pest control log is available for review and up-to-date.
• d. Preventive maintenance program logs are available for review and up-to-date.

5. Best Practices

• a. Any sleeping / living accommodations/building do not contain storage for operations (e.g., parts/material, chemicals, finished goods, equipment, invoices).

6. Serious conditions that will result in a severe finding

• Worker housing is unsafe with immediate risk of loss of facility, life or limb.
• Bathrooms, employee spaces, cafeterias, and food areas are unsafe with immediate risk of loss of facility, life, or severe injury.

3.0.0 (2023-09-01)

Changed

• Added monitoring-records requirement and year-round 'adequately conditioned' building requirement: Two new mandatory conditions can flip a 7.1.2 pass to a fail: (1) a new Record Review requirement that monitoring records for lighting and conditioned environments be available, accurate, complete, and up-to-date — absent in 7.1.2; (2) the 7.1.2 'Building is heated in the winter (if applicable)' was replaced by a year-round 'the building is adequately conditioned' requirement (conditioned ventilation defined against ISO 7730/ISO 7243/ISO 7933/ASHRAE 55), removing the 'if applicable' escape. Offsetting loosening: the 7.1.2 'Surveillance / All dorms monitored equally' observation was removed. Net: new mandatory conditions, hence major.

2.0.0 (2022-06-01)

Changed

• Rating-table genericisation creates a citable single-element pass-to-fail flip; permits and emergency-response provisions removed: Net-loosening boundary that is nonetheless major because of a citable pass-to-fail flip. The explicit per-criterion Major/Minor bands ('One of minimum requirement elements is missing or ineffective' = Minor = pass) were replaced by 'See finding severity definition', so that same single-element finding is no longer guaranteed Minor and an auditor may rate it Major = fail. Loosenings in the same boundary: the standalone permits/licenses provision (with its Major band for missing permits/licenses/testing reports and canteen-worker certificates) was removed and relocated to the H&S management-system clause (B.M.1.1), and the dormitory and bathroom/cafeteria emergency-response site observations (fire/heat detection and alarm, exit routes from each floor, first-aid kits, posted maximum occupancy) were dropped.

1.0.0 (2021-01-01)

Changed

• Initial historical baseline — Food, Sanitation and Housing (RBA Code of Conduct 7.0): Earliest imported version of the criterion. Requires ready access to clean toilet facilities, potable water, and sanitary food preparation/storage/eating facilities, and clean, safe worker dormitories with emergency egress, hot water, lighting, heat and ventilation, secured storage, and reasonable personal space. Includes a standalone permits/licenses provision (with explicit Major band for missing permits/licenses/ testing reports or expired canteen-worker certificates), dormitory and cafeteria emergency-response requirements (fire/heat detection and alarm, exit routes from each floor, first-aid kits, posted maximum occupancy), and drinking-water testing against WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality. Explicit Major/Minor rating bands: a single missing/ineffective element rates Minor (pass).