There are five critical stages in preparing for and performing a satisfactory environmental management system audit. The degree of activity completed at each stage will vary between organisations, however, consideration of these stages should be made.
1. Program / Schedule
- Audit Objective and Scope
- What to Audit ?
- When to Audit ?
- Approaches to Programming / Scheduling
- Audit Schedule Structure
2. Planning & Preparation
- Notification
- Preliminary Informastion
- Audit Team Composition
- Audit Planning
- Document Review
- Audit Guidance Tools
3. Performing the Audit
- Getting Started
- Team Meeting
- Nonverbal Communications
- Time Management
- Resolving Differences
- Information Collection
- Audit Methods
- Recording Information
- Question Technique
4. Presentation of Audit Findings
- Evaluation of Audit Findings
- Reporting Categories
- The Deficiency Statement
- Audit Report Structure
- Feedback Meeting
5. Follow-up Activities
- Follow-up Audit
- Review Activities
