Audit systems Scheme

Mir, A. H. (1982), Development of Ergonomic Audit System and Training Scheme, M.S. Thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo. 

To achieve the best results, auditors should be competent people who are independent of the area and of the activities being audited. External consultants can be used or staff from other areas of the organization. An organization can use its own auditing system or one of the proprietary systems on the market or, since it is unlikely that any ready made system will provide a perfect fit, a combination of both. With any scheme, cost and benefits have to be taken into account. Common problems include ... 

The certification business has grown enormously in the last ten years. The International Accreditation Forum (lAF) recorded 616 accredited certification bodies in January 1999. The experience of the vehicle manufacturers with ISO 9000 certification led them to question the wisdom of so many certification bodies chasing the same business in a competitive market. The results seemed to indicate that cost reductions by the certification bodies led to a decline in the quality of auditing and that was the opposite of what the vehicle manufacturers wanted. The vehicle manufacturers had not seen a significant rise in product quality as a result of ISO 9000 and they believed this was partially due to the quality of the accreditation and certification schemes being operated as well as inadequacies in the quality system standard. When the four national automotive schemes were launched, great emphasis was placed on regulating more closely the accreditation and certification schemes. From a customer perspective, the ISO 10011 scheme had some particular problems ... 

Energy audits are also leveraged with a system commonly called over the fence energy. In this scheme, the end-user does not buy equipment, but purchases a commodity such as steam, heat, or compressed air from a third party. The third party owns, leases, or operates the equipment used to provide the energy service. It is then in the interest of that third party to ensure that energy audits are routinely carried out and unnecessary energy use is kept to... 

The laboratories are inspected annually by the National Measurement Accreditation Scheme (NAMAS) and for conformity to GLP. Part of the inspection is a vertical audit, which involves tracing a sample from the moment it is dehvered to the laboratory to when the result is reported. All the records of its passage through the system are traced. For... 

Where a plant operator is producing beef that is labelled organic , under the Beef Labelling Scheme which came into force on 1 July 1998 and became compulsory on 1 January 2000 (in the UK but not the rest of Europe ), the operator is responsible for traceability and for the validity of all labelling claims, and will be audited by a third party to verify historical records and management systems to ensure they are robust enough to validate the claims made. 

Environmental management systems (EMS), and also ISO 14001, are becoming household names in many organizations. But what about EMAS Almost unknown in the United States, EMAS is the acronym for the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, a voluntary system based on European Union (EU) regulations and... 

While it may thus be possible that in certain areas, the different quality systems may be similar to one another, it has nevertheless to be recognised that neither the adherence to an ISO or accreditation standard may replace GLP compliance (for this aspect see the respective OECD Position Paper), nor can a GLP compliant test facility claim the same technical competence as a laboratory operating under an accreditation scheme. However, the existing redundancies in the different sets of rules can make it possible to implement two such quality systems in one laboratory utilising the common points of the two systems to facilitate the tasks of personnel and quality management. The same can be true for the official compliance monitoring inspections and audits, where audit or inspection results of aspects that are fully covered by one system may be accepted by the other without further investigation. 

EMS in line with Dow s stated commitment to Responsible Care the corporate headquarters were visited in March 1999 as part of the voluntary management verification system. The CER refers to the main points raised in the audit report, which is also available on the internet. Dow participates in similar schemes in Canada and Australia. In Europe auditing is part of ISO 14001 and the EM AS requirements. No figures are presented concerning the number of sites audited or certified. 

A voluntary scheme, which is administered according to European Council Regulation EEC/1836/93. An eco-audit every three years determines the effectiveness of the environmental management system in place, verifying that environmental policies and objectives are being put into practice. 

In addition to ISO 14001, other well known environmental management systems include Responsible Care , adopted by the American Chemistry Council (formerly known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association) in 1988, Eco-Management Auditing Scheme (EMAS), adopted by the Council of the European Community in 1993, and Environmental Standard BS 7750, adopted by the United Kingdom in 1994. 

Within the European Union, many organisations have decided on a voluntary basis to implement environmental management systems based on EN ISO 14001 1996 or the EU Eco-management and audit scheme EMAS. EMAS includes the management system requirements of EN ISO 14001, but places additional emphasis on legal compliance, environmental performance and employee involvement it also requires external verification of the management system and validation of a public environmental statement (in EN ISO 14001 self-declaration is an alternative to external verification). There are also many organisations that have decided to put in place non-standardised EMSs. 

The features described under (a) to (e) above are elements of EN ISO 14001 1996 and the European Community Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), whereas the features (f) and (g) are specific to EMAS. These two standardised systems are applied in a number of IPPC installations. As an example, 357 organisations within the EU chemical and chemical products industry (NACE code 24) were EMAS registered in July 2002, most of which operate IPPC installations. 

Some critics claim that BS 7750 is not powerful enough, in the sense that it does not sufficiently stress the surveillance of sub-supplier probity. Nevertheless, it is a popular system which is often used as a first step towards registration tmder The European Community Environmental Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS). It is also one of the few existing standards on environmental management that can be adapted to the ISO 14000 Series on environmental issues within industry with only small modifications. 

Similar standards of excellence should be the aim in health and safety since the attitudes and procedures are identical, namely clear specification, audit and report back, monitor to identify and correct deviations in materials, behaviour and systems, sample checks and training. Where QA schemes exist or are being implemented, not only should the quality of the product improve but so too should the standards of safety and health. 

A Scorecard/Dashboard lists the elements of the Operational Risk Management System in place and numerical or alpha scores are applied to the elements, often resulting from audits. A color scheme may be applied to indicate the status of the Operational Risk Management System, such as ... 

Environmental management systems (such as ISO 14001 and the EC s Eco-management and Audit Scheme) have been implemented by organisations to demonstrate their commitment to good environmental management practices in minimising environmental impacts leading in turn to an overall improvement in environmental performance. 

---