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REMOTE VIRTUAL AUDITING


READY TO GO REMOTE?


Remote or virtual auditing has seen rapid growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has been around and in limited use for many years. Remote auditing is one of the audit methods described in ISO 19011:2018 Annex A1. and IAF MD4:2015 - so it’s not new, it’s just experiencing a big boost in popularity, and this is expected to continue post-Covid.


Typically, pre-2019, audits meant someone physically coming to a site, walking through the facility, meeting staff and verifying that activities were being undertaken to a pre- agreed arrangement. It is unlikely remote auditing will ever replace physical auditing, but at times of crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, it has proven to be an effective solution to help reduce risk and maintain customer confidence – and some form of remote auditing will certainly stay in place moving ahead.


Audits are done for many reasons: •


Internal audits – those done by the company staff or, in some cases, contractors;


• Second party audits – those done by customers or by an organisation contracted by the customer;


• Third party audits – those conducted by audit bodies employed by the company - typically to gain a management system certification such as ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001 etc. or by governmental bodies.


Audits themselves can be different types – i.e.


• a system audit – to verify compliance with elements of a management system to show a level of conformance or non- conformance against those criteria.


• or a performance/ process audit – which, as the name suggests, measures performance against a set of pre-established criteria, and often results in an audit score – i.e. percentage compliance


TAPA EMEA has also seen the merits of remote auditing and has established a Remote Verification Audit Criteria. This procedure can be applied to all current versions of TAPA’s Security Standards in use in EMEA and provides an alternative solution to a physical on-location, in-person audit.


So, let’s take a look at the requirements and process to be followed for auditors to use during remote TAPA audits.


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