Resources audits

The mechanisms underlying dryland salinity were understood soon after the first clearings (Wood 1924), but only recently a study by the National Land and Water Resources Audit (2001) has put the problem on the national agenda. This report was the first to identify the extent of the saline area and to predict its further development (Table 2). 

Table 2. Australian agricultural, water, infrastructure and biodiversity assets at risk from shallow water tables or with a high salinity hazard in 2000, 2020 and 2050 (National Land and Water Resources Audit 2001).

National Land and Water Resources Audit (2001) Australian dryland salinity assessment 2000.- Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, Australia. 

Auditing and monitoring are ways of determining whether the program actually works in preventing and detecting violations. There are many different methods that can be used to do audits. TSCA audits can be done on a standalone basis, or as part of a broader facihties audit on a regularly scheduled basis or randomly or by internal or external resources. Audits should be... 

Is R D s role in the business understood Are technology plans developed and broadly understood Are R D resources organized in the best way to carry out its mission Is the organizational climate assessed Does the organization have measures for success Does the organization learn Audits in place ... 

Step 1.1 Getting Ready. A thorough preparation for a P2 audit is a prerequisite for an efficient and cost-effective evaluation. Gaining support for the assessment from top-level management, and for the implementation of results, is particularly important. Otherwise, there will be no real action on recommendations. Early in the process, management needs to accept that, at a bare minimum, the audit is a worthwhile exercise and that resources - human and financial - should be diverted from other activities to the task of auditing. 

Step 1.3 Identify and Allocate Additional Resources. The audit may require external resources, such as laboratory facilities and possibly equipment for air sampling, flow measurements, energy measurements, and product-quality testing. 

Where a supplier has a quality system that covers the whole business, the audit plan must not include elements that are not implemented for automotive customer needs e.g. elements of Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, IT, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Public Relations may not serve automotive customers needs but company needs. 

While the plan itself is not auditable by third parties, it may be auditable by second parties i.e. customers. The third party or registrar is entitled to examine the plan to ascertain that it is what it proclaims to be. The particulars are of no concern except those aspects relating to quality, such as the resources, quality objectives, customer satisfaction plans, and performance metrics. Whatever is stated on these aspects, the auditors will expect to see evidence that the business plan is not merely a wish list and that provisions have been made to enable implementation through the quality system. 

The organization audit to verify that the organization is equipped and resourced to implement the policies and achieve the stated objectives. 

Maximum usefulness and focus on end use. Remember that the PSM assessment phase is a means to an end the design and installation of a workable PSM system within your company. This means you may want to gather information that might otherwise not be included in comparable studies, audits, or reviews, e.g., data concerning resource allocations and requirements. If so, these considerations should be factored into both selection of your assessment method and the specific design of the tools you select. 

Some deficiencies in the integrated systems may be seen at once others will be visible only after project resources have been withdrawn and the system is self-supporting. It is important to examine the integration straight after installation and a few months later. These reviews should draw on the results of the independent audits and should involve staff from the pilot... 

This potential for consolidation in the area of documentation systems was used as an example to sell the overall integration concept. Documentation was an area of constant complaint and senior management could easily visualize opportunities for improvement in basic resource requirements, as well as secondary effects on resources for training, auditing and other activities. Exhibit 10-1 was a key part of the presentation that the VP, ESH made to senior management. 

There is little evidence relating to the pharmacoeconomic aspects of the use of quetiapine. In the UK, a retrospective audit of 20 patients (Lee et al, 1998), published only as a conference abstract, tentatively suggested decreased costs for those patients, largely through a reduction in hospital stay and resource use. Quetiapine may also improve quality of life (Hellewell et al, 1999). A large, randomized, controlled pharmacoeconomic evaluation is apparently under way (Drummond et al, 1998) and results are awaited. 

Changes take place in the laboratory system to take into account customer feedback and/or laboratory and office feedback. This could be after the completion of the work or as a result of the internal audit. Management review will evaluate the whole system and provide resource to enable changes to take place, e.g. 

It endorses sustained commitment of resources for all necessary activities, including material testing, as well as the timely completion and documentation of review, audit, and investigation action item resolutions. 

Since SYSCO does not itself manufacture, a quality assurance team of more than 180 professionals determines specifications for each own-brand item and also sets criteria for raw materials and for the standards that manufacturers and processors must follow for food safety, quality, and consistency, as well as for social responsibility and supplier codes of conduct. This quality assurance team identifies and establishes supply sources and audits those suppliers to enforce SYSCO s strict standards for various factors like facility conditions and sanitary measures. Inspectors are at the plants as bacon comes off the production line, or follow produce from field to cooler to assure proper holding temperatures and product integrity. SYSCO s program is unmatched in the food industry. The number of people and level of resources committed to supporting the integrity of the products are far superior to those of other industry competitors, who may devote merely a handful of personnel to these tasks, if they are undertaken at all. 

Could regulators conduct their own audits, not depending upon validation by laboratories In theory that strategy could be successful, but two problems stand in the way. First, resources, including time and expertise, permit only a very cursory spot check on compliance. Those limited resources are much better spent in reviewing comprehensive validation reports than in conducting very limited tests of system performance and compliance. 

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