On-site Audit

As the name suggests, an on-site audit is performed on the client’s premises. The audit team follows the audit plan (itinerary) using methodology based on international best practice standards (ISO 19011 and ISO 17021) for managing and performing audits.

What we require from you

For the audit to be successful, your management team should ensure that all personnel know when the audit is scheduled to take place, the purpse of the audit and what is expected of them.  For example, personnel need to have documentation available for the auditors, consider how their systems comply with the audit standard and criteria, and organize interviews with the auditors.  Health Audit NZ Ltd will provide you with an audit audit plan containing a timetable for the audit and indicating (in matrix format) which standards and criteria will be audited and by which auditor.

Your management team may need to appoint a "auditor guide" to support the auditors though each day on site.  The audit team will need access to a private room for interviews, to a telephone and photocopoier and to your organzational documentation such as policies, procedures and records.  Consideration should also be given to providing light refreshments to the audit team during their time on site.  Your personel may also wish to meet the auditors by visiting our web site.

The on-site auditing process

The first part of the on-site audit will be an opening meeting held by the audit team with your management team. The opening meeting will be brief (about 15 minutes) and will be used to confirm the scope of the audit and the itinerary arrangements as well as to introduce the audit team to your management. The opening meeting is usually followed by a short tour of your facility / premises in order to familiarize the auditors with the layout.

During the on-site audit your management system will be assessed for compliance with the certification standards. Audit techniques will include a combination of observation of processes, examination of documents and records, and interview of management, staff members and consumers. The length of an interview will vary depending on the number of areas to be covered during the interview. This approach to gathering audit evidence from different sources is called triangulation and gives assurance of validity in the audit findings.

After gathering the audit evidence, the audit team will review their findings for presentation to your management team. This review is conducted by the audit team in private.

At the end of the on-site audit, your lead auditor and audit team will present their findings to your management team at a closing meeting. Where there is nonconformity with a standard, a finding statement will be presented verbally and confirmed with you in writing as a “Corrective Action Request”. Finding statements must be followed up by your management team before the lead auditor can recommend certification.

Your audit report

Your lead auditor will confirm all finding statements in a written audit report which may also include observations describing opportunities for improvement in your management system. Each finding statement (“Corrective Action Request”) will indicate a standard criterion that has been found to be unattained or partially attained. The finding statement will have a timeframe assigned for your organization to undertake corrective action so that the standard criterion can be rated fully attained.

An important feature of our audit report is the clear distinction we make between finding statements and observations. Whilst responding to finding statements (“Corrective Action Requests”) is a condition of being awarded certification, the observations noted in your audit report are non-mandatory recommendations for consideration by your management team.

Next stage

If all criteria and certification standards are met, the next stage will be Certification.  Otherwise, we wll proceed to a Follow-up Audit.