“Whether it happens on-site or remotely, a key part of an audit for us is being pushed or challenged today so we can continue to improve things tomorrow,” said Bob Moulton, Safety, Health, Environmental and Energy Manager at BAE Systems, Rochester. “On this occasion, COVID-19 meant that a remote audit was a sensible option which worked well for us.”
Using a secure platform is key to making it a success and there is absolutely no reason why this kind of audit can’t be conducted this way.”
Day one of the three-day LRQA surveillance audit against globally recognised environmental standard ISO 14001 and occupational health and safety standard ISO 45001, focused on systems elements and was completed remotely. Day two and three involved documentation review of risk assessments (including COSHH assessments), environmental assessments, operating procedures, training records, maintenance and inspection records – which were also completed over a secure CISCO Webex platform with no need for on-site visits.
“As a global leader in innovation, we’re grateful that Lloyds was able to work with us during this difficult time to look for a cutting-edge solution that helps our goals of ensuring business continuity”, added Moulton.
“At the most challenging time when the UK was first going into lockdown, I worked closely with BAE Systems to overcome security and IT hurdles and to deliver a three-day surveillance remotely,” said Richard Oxley, Managing Assessor at LRQA. “Documentation that would normally have been reviewed on-site was reviewed via secure screen-sharing facilities. Some very useful discussions were held around the management system architecture which may not have occurred during an on-site visit where there would have been more focus on conducting a site tour.”