Royal Mint gains gold standard in social responsibility

First mint in the world to be awarded SA8000 accreditation

The Royal Mint today announced that it has become the first mint in the world to be awarded accreditation to Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000), the international standard designed to ensure safe working conditions, fair management practices and protection of workers' rights.

"We’re very proud to be the largest UK manufacturer to achieve this standard, which is a key part of our strategy for growth," explains Adam Lawrence, Chief Operating Officer at The Royal Mint. "As the exclusive provider of official UK Commemorative and Circulating coins for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this is very important time for us. SA8000 accreditation means our customers around the world can buy the coins and medals we produce confident in the knowledge they have been produced by a socially responsible business.

"In addition to producing coins and official medals for the UK, we’re also the world’s leading export mint, supplying governments and central banks in over 60 countries every year. I’m confident SA8000 accreditation, along with the £16.5 million investment we recently announced in new nickel plating production facilities, will help us succeed and win even more business around the world."

SA8000 is the most widely recognised global standard for managing human rights in the workplace. It is the first auditable standard, based on a universal set of criteria covering areas such as labour conditions, child labour, safety, discrimination and fair pay.

The Royal Mint, located in Llantrisant, South Wales, earned the certification after passing an independent audit of every aspect of its operations. The audit took one week to complete and included extensive private interviews with 100 members of staff, conducted by an external audit team from SGS.

"The Royal Mint is proud to belong to an exclusive band of organisations around the world that have earned SA8000 certification," said Gail Roberts, Head of Procurement. "We see this as the gold standard for social responsibility and it shows we’re a world class organisation. We’ve also got a number of our largest suppliers working towards SA8000 themselves at the moment, so we’re taking a lead by ensuring we work with the best possible partners along the journey to turn our vision of Making Money for Everyone™ into a reality."