There are a variety of reasons that an auditor may not be present due to safety constraints, pandemics or travel restrictions. The voluntary or mandatory confinement due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, commissioning of windmill assembly of scaffold, explosive testing and other scenarios are all examples where auditing remotely is beneficial.

Remote Audits enable SMG to deliver your audit program how and when you need it. The same trusted experts engage your team members wherever they are based and enhance your audit with immersive technologies.

A remote audit is the same as an on-site audit, but the auditor engages with you via technology. It can still cover document and record review, tours of your premises, interviews with workers and presentation of findings by using a range of technology platforms.

Benefits of Remote Audits

• Ensure maintaining your certificate even when working from home,
• Reduce social contact,
• Decrease our carbon footprint and expenses through reduced travel,
• Easy and flexible approach to use  where we align the technology that works best for you,
• Maintain your access to the same experienced auditors,
• Increase the flexibility in planning for your team, without the need to attend in person,
• Increase your access to our global network of experts more easily.

Our remote audit approaches

We offer two main approaches for remote auditing:

1)   Either the auditor can be auditing your organization off-site

2)   Or the auditor can be at one of your locations, remotely auditing another one of your sites, by performing interviews, reviewing documentation and records and observing processes and activities with your team.

Regardless of the approach, and depending on your audit requirements, we use different technologies for an immersive audit experience.

How does a remote audit work?

Remote audits may be considered at any stage of the certification process. Here are the three simple steps involved in your Remote Audit with SMG.

Step 1: Planning

From the beginning we will work together to get the right audit approach for you, taking into consideration scheme specific requirements and your technology infrastructure, to ensure we can deliver an effective audit.

Once our approach is confirmed, we’ll schedule a date and our audit team leader will start the detailed audit planning process with you in order to confirm the final audit plan.

Step 2: Conducting the remote audit

A successful remote audit relies on adequate connectivity (i.e. voice and video) to ensure the communication between you and the auditor is stable.

Once your connection is up and running, audit evidence will be collected via interview, review of documentation and records (via screen sharing) and observation of processes and activities (via video sharing if possible). This reduces the amount of data and information transferred between your organization and SMG Auditor. You may be asked to email documents to the Auditor for review. Any information you send us will be managed in accordance to our confidentiality and data privacy policies. All evidence will be reviewed and reported to support the audit findings and conclusions.

Step 3: Audit reporting

In addition to a standard on-site audit report, remote audit reports will also include details about the remote auditing methods that have been used.

What should you expect?

The remote audit will typically be the same duration as your onsite audit. You will need to be available at all times and will be dialed into a conference call for most of the audit duration.

Further information

Contact us to find out what you need to be prepared for your remote audit, what/who you need to make available, what will happen if technology lets you down on the day of the audit, and what will happen if the remote audit cannot cover everything in your audit plan