Are you trying to get the most our of your Remote Auditing? But struggle how to maximise the value from your Remote Audits. This article could answer your questions.
This article explores the recently published document from the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), Remote Auditing – Ten Golden Rules. This Guide follows on from their document: How to add Value to Environmental Auditing, which was discussed in an earlier article: How to add Value to Environmental Auditing.
This guide provides the key considerations to be made when planning and conducting audits remotely.
With the current Covid-19 pandemic, there is an imperative for auditing to continue, whether as internal auditing or external, third-party auditing by Certification Bodies.
However, whilst much is written about environmental auditing process, much less is written about remote auditing process and even less about how to gain effective remote auditing in these challenging times.
It is against this backdrop that there has been a positive initiative to promote best practice and foster better understanding of remote auditing that the IEMA have filled this vacuum. I had the privilege to contribute to the development of the new guide: Remote Auditing – Ten Golden Rules and want to ensure that its contents are promoted more widely.
The guide is broken down into the ten Golden Rules as follows:
- Set clear and achievable remote audit objectives
- Develop effective plans to support the remote audit
- Know the technology, its capabilities and limitations
- Make all participants familiar with the remote audit
- Ensure the confidentiality and security of the audit
- Be familiar with the way to review documents remotely
- Break down any barriers to successful remote interviews
- Consider the requirements for virtual site tours and observation
- Have clear processes to review audit evidence and report conclusions
- Be aware of any specific requirements for regulators or certification bodies
Each section is supported by additional, concise bullet-points to get you on your way to effective remote auditing & there is a useful section on Further Information with links to other documents to help support your remote auditing journey.
With so much to consider from this article and from the content of the IEMA guide: Remote Auditing – Ten Golden Rules, you should start by downloading a copy of the IEMA Briefing Paper here
| ACTION POINTS 1. Obtain a copy of the IEMA Guide – Remote Auditing – Ten Golden Rules 2. Review the Ten Golden Rules and additional supporting guidance 3. Take action to apply the Ten Golden Rules to enhance your remote auditing |
I hope that this content will promote your own ideas on how to be more effective in your remote auditing. Please share your ideas in the comments section below.
If you enjoyed this article, you should check out our YouTube Channel – EMSmastery, where you can watch our videos, such as our video accompanying this article on How to add value to Environmental Audits and subscribe in our YouTube channel for new videos released each week.
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