To effectively detect sensitive and often concealed issues such as child labour, social audits must employ methods that prevent deception and encourage truthful disclosure. Unannounced, on-the-spot visits (B) are critical as they prevent factory management from hiding non-compliant practices or coaching workers. Advance warnings would render the audit ineffective for such issues.

Furthermore, conducting private meetings with a selection of workers (D) is a best-practice technique. This ensures confidentiality, allowing workers to speak openly about their conditions, ages, and treatment without fear of reprisal from management or coercion from peers, which is a significant risk in group settings.

A. organised well in advance to allow the factory managers to prepare for the audit: This approach is counter-productive for uncovering hidden violations like child labour, as it gives the supplier time to conceal evidence and coach employees.

C. conduct group interviews with workers to ensure that all voices are heard: Group interviews are unsuitable for sensitive topics. Workers are unlikely to speak truthfully about violations due to peer pressure or fear of managers overhearing.

1. CIPS L5M2 Managing Supply Chain Risk Official Course Book: The principles of effective supplier auditing are discussed

emphasizing the need for thorough and sometimes unannounced checks to verify compliance

especially concerning ethical standards. The text highlights that for serious risks like modern slavery or child labour

a simple pre-arranged visit is insufficient to uncover the truth. (Note: Specific page numbers vary by edition

but this content is typically found in chapters on managing supplier performance and risk).

2. International Labour Organization (ILO): The ILO's guidance on combating child labour emphasizes the need for credible monitoring. It notes that unannounced inspections and confidential worker interviews are core components of effective verification processes

as they provide a more accurate picture of workplace realities than pre-arranged

management-controlled audits. (See: ILO

Combating child labour: a handbook for employers and business

Section 4: 'Monitoring and verification').

3. Lund-Thomsen

P.

& Lindgreen

A. (2014). Corporate social responsibility in global value chains: A governance perspective. Journal of Business Ethics

125

1-5. This and similar academic articles on CSR and ethical supply chains consistently identify unannounced audits and confidential worker interviews as essential methodologies for credible social auditing

contrasting them with less effective

pre-announced "show-and-tell" audits. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1949-5 (The principles are discussed in the broader context of effective governance mechanisms).