ISO 45001 auditing consultant in Australia

Acquiring and retaining a certificate for your Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) based on the recommendations of ISO 45001 is not a singular event. In fact, it is a series of interconnected and sequential reviews that ensure your organisation's compliance. After you have developed and implemented your management system, it needs to be audited so that you can get your organisation and your system certified. In this article, we will talk about how ISO 45001 audits are conducted, the audit life cycle and the role of an audit consultant.

How is the ISO 45001 audit procedure done?

The audit cycle in ISO 45001 australia begins with an initial certification audit. This audit takes place to determine whether an organisation should be awarded the certificate for the first time. The initial audit is also known as a registration audit, a third-party audit or an external audit and is conducted by an accredited certification body. Depending upon the size of your organisation, your scope statement and the number of sites in your organisation, the Certification Body (CB) either appoints an auditor or a team of auditors to assess your OHSMS.

The audit begins with a pre-assessment which is mostly an optional stage where the auditor performs an informal pre-assessment audit. This audit is like a mock drill to prepare your organisation for the real thing. 

Stage one ISO 45001 audit; Document review

The other name for a stage one audit is a document review or a readiness review, and the objective is to determine if your organisation is ready for the stage two ISO 45001 audit. This audit is normally conducted at your organisation's head office as being on-site allows the auditor to gain an impression of the organisation and the complexity of the OHSMS. The auditor will review the documentation of your OHSMS, including the scope of the system, objectives and any relevant policies that support the operation of the system. Additionally, a walk of the site is also done to plan for the upcoming stage two audit.During this stage, the auditor will also ensure whether the relevant personnel are appropriately prepared for the stage two audit.

You will receive verbal feedback from the auditor at the end of stage one audit, and this will be followed by a written audit report that typically comes after a week. This report will contain the assessment of your OHSMS and your readiness for the stage two audit. The report will also highlight your understanding of the requirements of the standard, the assessment of your scope statement, the plan for the stage two audit and improvement request for potential areas of improvement.

Stage two ISO 45001 audit plan; Count on an ISO consultant

The overall goal of this audit is to determine if your OHSMS is compliant with the ISO 45001 standard and whether you can be awarded a certification. Typically, a stage two audit is conducted about 6 to 8 weeks after the stage one audit. It is usually conducted on-site at your head office across a sample of sites. However, audits can be done remotely in exceptional circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This audit is one of the most detailed and thorough audits and will begin with the auditor reviewing the actions of stage one ISO 45001 in order to ensure that the improvement requests have been acted upon. Additionally, the auditor also inspects documented information to find evidence for the management system's compliance with the standard. Moreover, the overall effectiveness of a management system will also be assessed, and its ability to achieve your organisational objectives will also be measured. The auditor will evaluate your internal audits and management reviews to see the effectiveness of your preventive and corrective actions. Lastly, the auditor will examine key performance objectives and targets.

You will receive a written report after the audit, which contains a summary of your findings. If there are major nonconformities found that can lead to a total breakdown of a system, you will be given a time period to rectify it before certification can be recommended by the auditor. Similarly, minor non-conformity does not affect the recommendation for approval but should be addressed prior to the issue of your certificate.

If you are granted a certificate, you enter an audit cycle where it is necessary to conduct surveillance audits on a yearly basis to maintain your certificate. All of these steps can be done by an ISO 45001 consultant effortlessly. 

ISO 45001 auditing consultant in Australia by iso professionals 

ISO 45001 auditing consultant helps you prepare for extensive audits. When preparing for stage one audit, ISO 45001 auditing consultant will make sure that all your records are sufficient and available, including records about internal audit processes, management reviews, senior management commitment, complaints, purchasing, objectives and targets. The ISO 45001 audit consultant will ensure that all your documents are appropriately dictating what is actually 

happening in your organisation so that you can achieve certification on your first attempt.

Edara Systems helps you with ISO management consultancy

ISO 45001 audit is divided into two stages; wherein the first stage, the documents of your organisation are assessed, and in the second stage, your policies and procedures are observed. An ISO 45001 auditing consultant will ensure that your records are sufficiently prepared for assessment by the external auditor.