01  How long will the audit take?

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The length of the audit will depend on the size and complexity of your operations. Expect a typical audit to take 1.5 days (at 8 hours per working day) on site, with another half day to produce a detailed report.

 

 

 

 02  How quickly will I get my Report/Certificate? from the Certification Body?

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At the end of the audit the auditor will provide a written summary of any non-conformities identified. Sites are then allowed 28 days to provide evidence that they have completed any actions identified at the audit. A further 14 days are allowed for the certification body to review the information, complete the report and make a certification decision. In total 42 days should be allowed between the audit and issue of a certificate.

 

 

 

 03  What are Voluntary Modules?

 

Specific Standards have been designed to enable the addition of voluntary modules to the routine audit. The aim of the voluntary modules is to enable sites to demonstrate compliance with specific sets of requirements in order to meet specific market or customer requirements without the need for an additional audit, thus reducing the number of separate audits at the site.​

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 04  When can we book an audit for our newly built factory?

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Manufacturing units that are newly built or ‘commissioned’ must ensure that their systems and procedures are compliant before the initial audit is undertaken. Whilst it is at the discretion of the company when to invite a certification body to carry out an audit, it must be able to demonstrate that its systems and processes are well established, compliant and monitored. It is therefore unlikely that full compliance could be satisfactorily demonstrated within the first 3 months of operation. A company may wish to consider a pre-assessment towards the end of this 3-month period

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 05  What documentation do you need to keep for hazard and risk management?

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You need to ensure that the information, which you base the hazard and risk management plan on, is referenced and available on request by the auditor. This may include published literature on known hazards, codes of practice or legislation. You need to keep records of hazard and risk management team meetings and the decisions that were reached. You should also have documents to demonstrate how the decisions for establishing CCPs were reached.

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 06  How an external auditor can help my business?

 

Auditors must be independent of the activity being audited to ensure the audit is rigorous and thorough and is not influenced by the work that may need to be carried out to effect corrections and improvements. Auditors should not be biased or influenced. External auditors may need to be used where there are insufficient internal resources.

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 07  What to expect on the audit date(s)?

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The auditor or certification body confirms the time of their arrival on site beforehand and provides an outline of the audit schedule plan. The duration of the audit is planned in advance, but may be depend on the activities on the day

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