Development of workers' social indicators for the oil palm industry

Numerous studies have frequently argued regarding the lack of agreement on the most important impact assessment categories and indicators to be included in social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). As there is a dearth of studies focusing on the interface of S-LCA indicators, this study aims to develop worker subcategory indicators based on S-LCA perspective by employing a fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), prioritising the expert consensus in determining the indicators. Sixteen experts from the field, both industry and academic panels, were selected based on their prior experience in or current employment with the palm oil industry. Eight subcategories of workers with 71 indicators were listed based on national and international laws, and the experts were instructed to rate their level of agreement for each indicator. Of the 71 indicators, only 68 indicators for the respective eight workers subcategories were chosen. The rest were rejected as they failed to meet the 75% expert consensus and threshold value (d ≤ 0.2). The study found that FDM can be used to identify indicators suitable for S-LCA. Ultimately, the findings of this study could be applied to develop appropriate indicators for other stakeholder group subcategories in S-LCA strategies.