Productivity Mangament Group

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EnMS: Internal Audit Steps

Most of the companies consider internal audit as one of the requirement of ISO 50001:2018 which has to be fulfilled by preparing some of the documents. Which sometime leads towards misleading by providing false data. Well, they are not realizing conducting internal audit helps them analyse processes of their system, means whether things are aligned towards company objectives and strategies and what can be done to grow our system from good to excellent.

Internal audit steps:

Following steps will help you to lead towards successful internal audit:

Audit Plan: The initial step towards a successful internal audit is an audit plan. Which brief the whole schedule of an audit. The audit schedule should be available to everyone and if it is not then it somewhere reflects management having trust issues with employees working under them. On the other hand, planned audits will help you to establish the culture that the auditor is here to help and at same time it put some positive pressure on employees to strive for results, which is good for management.

Conducting Audit: While performing an internal audit first thing that is to be kept in mind that it is not only a meeting legal compliance's. The internal audit will be more about looking at processes against which energy related plans are outlined by the company. Are they monitoring deviations in their energy performance? Are any required operational controls related to energy in place? Are they addressing non conformities and the corrective action to be taken against those activities? In short, we have to evaluate that the process meets planned conditions with respect to how it can interact with energy.

Audit Report: It is one of the crucial step and if it is not done properly it can lead poor repercussions. So, whether employees are doing well in the processes they are engaged or there are any problems, they should be aware of their performance and understand where are they lacking so that they can address and correct it. Opportunities for improvement are also addressed in the process while audit, sharing that opportunity for improvement with process owner and sharing his/her views on them can also add values to it.

Follow Up: Following up on the NC or OFI found during an audit helps to identifies the current status of the process. Well in most of the cases it was seen that follow up is the least considered done part of the internal audit. If there is no closed loop system in the organization, then there is no fun of conducting an internal audit at first place. Therefore, follow up helps you to mitigate the problems that are previously identified in the internal audit and prevent reoccurring of problems again and again.

Do I have to conduct separate audit for EnMS?

Well, the answer is NO. As per revision of ISO 50001:2011 into ISO 50001:2018, which makes it more compatible with other management system standards. So, now you can audit the same defined processes in context of energy and other management system like QMS, EMS etc. Only the thing that have to be kept in mind is to satisfy all the requirements of the standards while conducting an internal audit and if you can do it in single visit, that will be beneficial for you and your company.

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Interested parties: ISO 50001:2018

Revision of ISO 50001:2011 to ISO 50001:2018, laid emphasis on identifying interested parties and their need and expectations. According to clause 4.2, organization shall determine interested parties that are relevant to EnMS, their relevant requirements and also identify which of the needs and expectations will be addressed through EnMS.

Now, you might be wondering why so much importance is being given to interested parties, why we need to identify them and what is their relevance with our EnMS. Well, let us look why the ISO 50001:2018 standard wants you to identify these parties, and what is in it for them.

Why to identify & What is their relevance in EnMS?

The main perception of identifying interested parties is to identify who are the ones, which contribute or have relevance towards energy performance of the organization and their EnMS and the needs & expectation are identified in order to know, what if these needs and expectations were not meet.

For an instance, if your stakeholders expect optimum utilization of energy and if you as an organization is not working on it, then they will be not satisfied with you, which can further impact on poor relations between stakeholder and the organization. So, this would be the one of the expectation of the interested parties, which you need to fulfill.

Accordingly, in every management review meeting needs and expectation of the interested parties are reviewed and in case if there is any change, organization will incorporate it and simultaneously work on it.

Who are your Interested parties?

Following are some interested parties relevant to your EnMS, while this is not a complete list and it varies industry to industry.

Government: No matter where you have your business, there will be government regulations that need to be met at some level. There are different bodies made by government, which look into your organizations energy performance by conducting an extensive energy audit. Not meeting requirements of the interested can lead to penalties and fines.

Shareholders: Shareholders are once, who want your company to earn more, but not to waste it. Which is one of the reason why they are agreed to implement ISO 50001:2018. They will be interested in EnMS for monitoring savings that can be achieved by improvements made through EnMS.

Employees: Employees prefer a surrounding which is safe, productive at the same time and they want to work at, where they can be proud of their contribution to conservation of natural resources. Being an interested party, employees are also involved in how well EnMS performs.

Thus, EnMS provides you a framework to identify relevant requirements whether legal or other requirements and boost you toward meeting those requirements and be up to date with changes in the requirement. In order to get more familiar to the requirements related to ISO 50001:2018

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People make or break the system?

“Do you have the ISO xxxxx certificate?” or “Are you certified with ISO xxxxxx? These are the some common question, which are frequently asked, by your current or new customer, government body, export body etc. now a day it becomes almost mandatory to have such certification for an uninterrupted business with various customers. ISO standards mean that users can have sureness that their products or services are benign, unfailing and of noble class. Therefore, don’t you think questions, which commonly asked, should be like, “Do you have properly implemented management system in your organization?” or “What benefits that you have attained from executed management system?” Yes, now it seems difficult to answer for majority of the organizations. Why organizations are failing in consistently maintaining the system? There are numerous factors, which plays a vital role to make it happen.

How does organizations making the system?

As said, to have respective certificate is a need of the time. It is a bitter truth that majority of the organizations are fail to understand the value of the management system. Good management system is like a path of excellence. It indicates the method to be apply and standardize the various business processes. There will be very few companies who implementing system seriously and by understanding or targeting the desired outputs from it. Common practice either is get direct certificates from open market or establish the requirements without taking part into implementation process. Usually called fulfilling documentation process only. To prepare a list of documents required and complying with them is not a rigorous implementation; I would say it is a waste of resources and money also. Generally, organizations levy all their responsibilities on hired consultant to fulfill the requirements until they get certify. Systems, which are implemented in such way, will never deliver desired or significant results to organization and organization fails to sustain it ahead or inculcate that such systems are just a part of compliance only not for productivity improvements.

How does organizations breaking the system?

Management system requires high level of engagement from all stakeholders of organization. There are various stages to implement such systems, and every stage has its unique importance to make it feat. It is been seen that employees are not participating or just participating in documentation process because of its management’s call to have such management system in place. Integration of process is vital in any management system and organization fails to link their routine processes and documentation with requirements. On-time actions on various predefined tasks are critical for the successful system. It also requires high level and serious advance planning. Employee feels encumbrance may be because of lack of system for employee motivation or undefined roles, responsibility and accountability at every stage. Many times, it is observed that people feel it difficult to follow the system may be because of low awareness, accustomed to work in an old style or any other reason. Making shortcut, considering urgency or any other situation leads towards the failure of system.

What can be done for better sustainability?

We have gone through the very basic and fundamental reasons the way organization evolve and fail their management system. A better system is that which is being followed in peak stages i.e. peak season, peak production, maximum order. A thorough awareness and workforce training is must before system implementation. Organization should or specifically say, top management should more committed and  have established targets which they really wants to achieve from the system. It should not be just a fulfillment of any stakeholder’s requirement. System implementation should be finely planned. Everyone’s involvement is a success factor for any system implementation. Hiring a competent consultant can make the implementation more easy and robust. Initial cost seems quite painful but surely, it will deliver a desired result along with hassle free work culture in your organization.

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What is risk based thinking?

Risk, determine risks, risk and opportunities, risk based thinking…

Have you ever heard about such words? On the other hand, are you still getting confuse with regard to RISK?

If you have read or implemented some High-level structured standards, then definitely you have faced confusion that how to incorporate or instill risk based thinking into my management system. Be relaxed! This article will systematically explain everything, which you want to know about risk. Let us begin with very basics of risk and risk based thinking which could expand your current thinking w.r.t risk fundamentals. While running the vigorous business, one needs to control the risks in organization. For this one has to think around what might cause impairment to resources and elect whether company taking sensible actions to avert that impairment. It is typically a risk assessment.

In an organization, risk is present everywhere, in every process, product and resources. Broadly, we can enlist risk such as process risk, product risk, strategic risk, business risk, management process risk, legal risk, human risk etc. every such risk has an impacts on the performance of the organization. Therefore, before it affect negatively on performance, organization have to identify and mitigate such risks in a proper manner. An organization needs to plan and implement actions to address risks and opportunities. Addressing both risks and opportunities forms a basis for growing the effectiveness of the management system(s), attaining value-added results and preventing undesirable effects.

Risk is the effect of uncertainty and any such uncertainty can have Positive or negative effects. A positive deviation arising from a risk can deliver an opportunity, but not all positive effects of risk result in opportunities. If company have not carried out formal risk assessment process, then there will be no wonder that risk from any business processes raised and impact badly to business any time. Such negative impact may be in the form of loss of sale, loss of customer, brand image, mishaps, disasters or legal issue. Therefore, it is always imperative to hook such risk well in advance before they attack on your business performance.

By adopting a risk-based approach and risk management, a company turn into proactive than only reactive, preventing or diminishing adverse effects and endorsing continual improvement.

Risk-based thinking: • improves control • institutes a proactive culture of development • supports with legal compliance • reassures reliability of quality of products and services • Enhance customer sureness and gratification

The usual explanation of risk is the likelihood of happening of an undesirable event into the impact of the event or effect of uncertainty. Risk-based thinking is somewhat we do routinely and every so often sub-consciously. Risk-based thinking makes pro-active action part of tactical and operational planning.

The idea of risk has all the time been implied in ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 – latest edition makes it further obvious and forms it into the entire system & Risk-based thinking confirms risk is considered from the starting and all through. Risk is not restricted to undesirable events. You can practice risk-based thinking to find opportunities as well, which denote the up side of risk. Risks and opportunities are every so often quoted composed. Opportunity is not the positive flank of risk. An opportunity is a pack of situations, which makes it likely to do somewhat. Catching or not catching an opportunity then reflects various stages of risk. Risk based thinking is not exactly the risk management and even standards are not demanding for typical risk management approach that any organization has to take up.

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Monitoring OH&S Management System

In March 2018, ISO came forward with a new standard for Occupational health & safety management system, ISO 45001, is now available and taking forward the message of OHSAS. You can see an overview of how the two standards differ in the article entitled First glance at ISO 45001 – How different is it from OHSAS 18001? Amongst the changes that ISO 45001 brings is a much more expansive and prescriptive clause regarding the topic “Monitoring, measuring, analysis and evaluation,” which has a huge bearing on how organizations operate their internal OH&S (Operational Health and Safety) systems and, consequently, how efficient and impactful the performance of that OH&S system is. So, given the importance of this topic to OH&S performance, what exactly do we need to know about it, and how can we apply it intelligently to ensure our OH&S is efficient, displays continual improvement, and protects the health and well-being of the employees?

The first part of clause 9.1 clarifies exactly what is meant by “monitoring and measuring” and gives specific examples of what can be measured to meet the International Standard, such as measurement against objectives, continual improvement progress, monitoring of employee well-being through surveys, reported illnesses and injuries, prevalent trends, actions taken against these and the overall performance of the OH&S system itself. Critically, “competence” is also referenced here, as it is apparent that workforce and management competence ultimately will always have a bearing on overall OH&S performance, including identification of hazards and management and mitigation of risk.

Next, the standard deals with what must be monitored and measured to ensure legal compliance, ensuring not only that any relevant legislation is met, but that gaps are identified and addressed and records are kept up to date. Obviously, this is a critical part of any OH&S system, but legal requirements are not the only consideration; other examples such as corporate agreements and policies, insurance requirements, union-employer agreements, and general rules and regulations are also given as examples of aspects that can be measured to allow evaluation of your OH&S system.

Evaluation, against what?

Evaluation of legal requirements is a reasonably objective task, but evaluation of other aspects of performance discussed above is not quite so straightforward. To assist us here, the standard provides some examples, and while these criteria will need to be amended depending on each individual organization, the examples provided give a flavor of the type of comparison we can make to allow us to truly evaluate our system, for example:

Compare against other organizations – no other suggestion is made, but clearly, comparing against organizations of a similar size and in the same sector will provide a more accurate reflection of your performance.

Your own code, objectives, and stated rules – these include your company’s Statement of Applicability, vision statement, or agreement with shareholders and stakeholders.

Your own organizational standards – these may be specific to your sector; for instance, financial organizations may be bound by an internal financial code of conduct, while electronic manufacturers may be committed to being guided by IPC standards.

The ISO 45001 standard then provides guidance on indicators that can typically be used to measure criteria, such as:

A comparison methodology – if incidents are measured by severity, frequency, and occurrence, then it is clear that this could be a standard way of measuring performance now and in the future.

Corrective action or risk action completion – measurement of completion within time predicted or success rate is another accepted method of criteria measurement.

So, now that we fully understand the breakdown of these parts of the clause, is there anything else we need to be aware of? Continue reading:Monitoring OH&S Management System

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How to prepare Internal Auditor checklist?

Planning for your first ISO 14001 internal audit on your EMS (Environmental Management System) can be an overwhelming challenge, with the requirements of the standard and your own knowledge of your internal processes probably requiring checking, too. Add the large number of employees and departments involved and the fact that an accurate report of the audit will be needed, and it can be tricky to know where to start. Unfortunately, the ISO 14001 standard doesn’t provide a checklist for this function, but the good news is that you can make one yourself.

Firstly, it is impossible to have an effective checklist without aligning it to the requirements of the standard; therefore, you will need to consider the requirements of the standard, including the following:

Review of “documented information“

In the article, A new approach to documented information in ISO 14001:2015 we examined the requirements for documented information that are required to satisfy the standard. It is wise to make this review the first part of your audit checklist.

Making your checklist

At the same time that you work through the 14001 standard to check on your document requirements, check the specific requirements that arise from that documentation. For example, if you have committed to reviewing your environmental aspects every six months, then part of your audit should be to ensure that this is being done, and the same applies to the other commitments you have made in your documented information.

Audit Planning

It is wise to plan your internal audit, as you will need to visit many people and departments, so structure your checklist to try and give yourself the appropriate amount of time in each department.

Audit execution

This is the physical act of performing the audit, where the auditor moves among the employees and processes and checks the critical elements of the standards to determine whether your defined processes are being correctly adhered to. In most organizations of any size, you will surely omit critical parts if you do not have a checklist, and you should also plan for the fact that you need to record outcomes and take notes for the report.

Audit reporting

You will need to write and retain a report with your audit findings, and your audit checklist and notes taken will help you to do this. This will form the basis for identifying non-conformance and suggesting corrective actions to resolve them accordingly.

Follow-up and closure of any non-conformity

Normally, it is sensible for the auditor himself to do the follow-up, where he/she will check that any corrective actions raised have been carried through and identified non-conformity eliminated. The checklist and notes are again vital in this part of the process.

Adding value to your checklist

So, we can see that aligning the requirements you have committed to in your own policies and documented information is vital, as well as meeting the elements laid out in the ISO 14001 standard itself. Regarding the requirements of the standard itself, there is a lot of information to process, especially for those less experienced in the application of ISO standards. It can therefore be extremely advantageous to undergo some training to assist with this, such as this online ISO 14001 internal auditor training course. Also, it is important for the employees you interact with to understand that this is not an interview situation, and the questions in the checklist are designed to gain an overall picture of the employee’s interaction with the process.

What to include in your checklist?

Your audit checklist should certainly contain the following columns, although obviously you can add to this to suit the needs of your own organization:

Continue reading: How to prepare Internal Auditor checklist?

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Competence and Awareness

In ISO 50001:2018 clauses 7.2 and 7.3 are devoted to competence and awareness. The significance of competence and awareness is one of the pillar for organization to grow and if there is no foundation to this pillar than, it doesn’t matter how superior your processes and documentation are. If employees within your organization aren’t aware of what exists, then it will be malfunctioning of EnMS.

Where to begin?

Awareness doesn’t mean that it is mandatory to know every word of ISO 50001 but at the same time it doesn’t mean that no one even reads a standard. Everyone within company should be aware of what is ISO 50001, Why it is important and How it will help our company. Well, the first step towards implementation of EnMS is Awareness training. Which itself satisfy awareness and competence requirement of ISO 50001.

How to Comply with requirements of Awareness & Competence?

Following are some of the suggestions for one’s who are maintaining EnMS and also for those who are in the journey towards accreditation on how to meet requirements of clause 7.2 and 7.3.

Conducting 10-minute meeting to update on daily goals before start of the day.

Visual display of results on performance of EnMS.

Evaluate competence while appraisal or you can make & share a questionnaire to test personnel understanding.

Sharing periodic circulars on mails like DO’s and Don’ts of not meeting requirement of EnMS.

Conduct training like on new technology or energy efficient practices to adopt.  

After assessing competence and awareness now it is up to you to what extent measures are to be taken to reach your satisfactory level. Also, ensure to record evidence of the training and communication done for competence and awareness.

To make sure that competence and awareness are at a satisfactory level during an audit process, then you will need to provide evidence of the work you have done to facilitate this, as mentioned above. Providing the auditor with documented evidence as discussed previously is vital, but a good auditor will quickly evaluate your workforce’s knowledge and the significance they attach to the ISO 50001 process itself simply while talking with them during the audit. Therefore, it is imperative that you provide the direction and understanding to ensure that the employees are educated and focused on the important aspects of the EnMS. Given that knowing some of the fundamental starting point like: objectives, expectations, and requirements of the standard, without competence and awareness there will be no continual improvement which in turn leads to non-compliance to requirement of clause 10.2.

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How to handle customer audits?

Very limited client like to overhear that they are being audited, predominantly by a customer, managing the infrequent audit does not have to be a worrying know-how for producers. One of the keys to handling a customer audit is, knowing what the auditor is observing for, so that you can well lodge the audit and keep processes seriatim easily. With this in mind, here is a list of the stuffs that customer auditors most usually stare for when carrying out an audit:

When auditors are evaluating business processes or location, one of the major things that they are observing for is some kind of clue that your industry processes are prearranged out and have aims or principles that they should complete too. Auditors need to know what controls are in place to approve that engineering process conforms to both firm’s interior necessities and the necessities of outside groups.

Every document and record that business uses which might shake your capability to deliver service to clienteles or encounter client quality standards, distribution, protection, ecological, lawful, and other singular necessities should be strongly measured, yet willingly retrievable. Archives and documents that an auditor will check comprise: continue reading: How to handle customer audits?

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Compliance means productivity

Looking over the ongoing scenario into the manufacturing industries, it is for sure that everyone becomes much stringent and careful towards their suppliers and quality of supplied products or services. On the other hand suppliers thinking to have very much specific requirements which they have to fulfill in order to keep their business stable and sustainable. Various types of requirements such as customer specific requirements, requirements of implemented management system(s), statutory and regulatory requirements, own requirements of organization usually seen as a barrier or burden to existing work.

So question here is, How to tackle with this all requirements before they attack on you. Yes, it is highly important to manage various relevant and critical requirements in such a way that they boost your productivity instead of acting a barrier for you. Sometimes it may happens that you cannot even interpret rightly the requirements. Moreover, it is not uncommon. Because it requires quite thorough understanding and competencies of people handling the requirements. Compliance to various management systems takes resources of an organization. So let’s understand the way, how one can grow and harvest significant benefits considering and complying to all applicable requirements. It is must to inculcate that compliance's are always for the control. Considering and incorporating such requirements will lead your organization towards systematic and standardized way of working. Initially it may seems quite difficult but it is. Proper methods and mechanisms should be established to handle the requirements smoothly.

Fulfilling customer specific requirements could earn you more and more business. By means of management standards, requirements are become more standardized now. Complying with statutory and regulatory requirements help you to create safe and healthy work environment. High employee motivation is a hidden advantage of the same. Organization complying with it can save ample amount of opportunity cost. Management system requirements brings a well-structured working style in the place. All the business processes could be standardized and deliver outputs at their peak efficiencies. Better controls over various processes could be established by means of complying with requirements. Workforce become more responsible and accountable which could be proven significant point for various improvement ideas for cultural and monetary benefits. Start complying requirements also make people more competent and capable enough to handle same requirements from other customer or organization. It provides a way of working, which will thrust you always towards better and better. Many times various audits becomes a headache for the organization because respective auditor always asks about the pre-given set of requirements, which organization have yet not fulfilled or understood. Which may lead to the barrier in approval or next order or release of payment also.

Concisely, organizations has to change their viewpoint toward compliance or requirements from barrier & burden to opportunity for standardization, improvement and monetary saving also. Change is not an option; if it is then survival has to. Organization can go for various ISO management system for their rigorous implementation to make the requirements favorable. Practicing such requirements and/or compliance will definitely prove you a loyal and business making supplier in the eyes of your customer.

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Energy Efficient Practices

Impact of energy on your profits is not new. It is one of the foremost factor, to which most of the organization pay less attention. In any industry, the three top operating costs are often found to be energy (both electrical and thermal), labour and materials. Among the three, energy has the highest potential for cost reduction. So, if steps are not taken towards control on energy performance, now, the future of the businesses will be unfortunate. Adopting following energy efficient practices can lead your organization to increased energy performance.

Culturing Energy in your Work Culture

Organizations need to rethink and evolve a management system, which considers energy in daily affairs. Energy Management System (EnMS) of ISO 50001 could be positioned by the energy guzzling facilities in order to improve energy performance.

Have a re-look and consider the following low-cost measures, to improve energy performance:

Planning of facilities

Capacity utilization

Augmenting maintenance practices

Life cycle perspective

Energy considered, purchases

Capacity building of people, focused on energy efficiency, use & consumption

Awareness Campaigns

Energy management system of ISO 50001:2018

Evolving Risk Associated with Energy

Considering risk, helps an organization to manage possible impacts on energy in an efficient and effective way. Consider following risks and evolve the Energy Management System.

Poor planning

Inadequate condition monitoring

Insufficient maintenance practices

Poor service performance by service providers

Poor asset reliability

Energy losses & leakages

Poor skills and understanding of energy centric working

Mis-informed decision making

Organization will be compelled to identify and prioritize the risk and opportunities in order to take effective action to address the strategic direction, which will lead to growth of the company’s energy performance, thereby increased profits.

YES! to Compliance

Most of the organizations consider legal compliance's as a hurdle but, not complying with legal compliance's leads to inefficient energy performance and higher energy expenses. Energy deployed for illumination could be costly, whereas a general illumination could have met the requirement. For more: Compliance means productivity.

Conclusion:

The BIG picture suggests that energy centric work culture, thinking risk and compliance's can impact organizational energy performance, profits and productivity. Complexities of energy scenario of the company can always be dealt, effectively by engaging partners who understand how to guide and coach energy managers of the company. Organizations need to prepare themselves for the future of work and adopt energy efficient practices in order to be efficient day by day.

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Integrating ISO 50001:2018 and ISO 14001:2015

Is it hard to compliant ISO 50001:2018, if you are compliant to ISO 14001:2015 requirements? Well the answer is No, because with new revision of ISO 50001 the whole standard is now based on high level structure which makes it compatible with ISO 9001 and also with other management systems.

Similarities:

If you are compliant with requirements of I ISO 14001:2015 , then you already have the following processes in place. • Establishing policy and propagation • Establish objectives and propagation • Risk Base thinking • Legal requirements • Competence, training, and awareness processes • Communication of management system information • Control of system documentation • Control of records • Control of non-conformities • Corrective action • Internal audit • Management review

Now the only thing you have to do is to incorporate the requirements of EnMS in the already defined processes. For example, you will need to identify which ISO 50001 records are controlled, but the method of control and storage is already decided as per your prevailing process. Similarly, in case of internal audit and management review, these activities are to be performed in relation to energy performance of the organization, but procedure or process of conducting internal audit and MRM are already at its place. Continue Reading: Integrating ISO 50001:2018 and ISO 14001:2015

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Monitoring OH&S management system

n March 2018, ISO came forward with a new standard for Occupational health & safety management system, ISO 45001, is now available and taking forward the message of OHSAS. You can see an overview of how the two standards differ in the article entitled First glance at ISO 45001 – How different is it from OHSAS 18001? Amongst the changes that ISO 45001 brings is a much more expansive and prescriptive clause regarding the topic “Monitoring, measuring, analysis and evaluation,” which has a huge bearing on how organizations operate their internal OH&S (Operational Health and Safety) systems and, consequently, how efficient and impactful the performance of that OH&S system is. So, given the importance of this topic to OH&S performance, what exactly do we need to know about it, and how can we apply it intelligently to ensure our OH&S is efficient, displays continual improvement, and protects the health and well-being of the employees?

The first part of clause 9.1 clarifies exactly what is meant by “monitoring and measuring” and gives specific examples of what can be measured to meet the International Standard, such as measurement against objectives, continual improvement progress, monitoring of employee well-being through surveys, reported illnesses and injuries, prevalent trends, actions taken against these and the overall performance of the OH&S system itself. Critically, “competence” is also referenced here, as it is apparent that workforce and management competence ultimately will always have a bearing on overall OH&S performance, including identification of hazards and management and mitigation of risk. Continue Reading: Monitoring OH&S management system

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What documents and records are required under the ISO 9001:2015?

With this current ISO 9001:2015 standard, there are significant changes occurred in terms of requirements and documentation. Compare to previous ISO 9001:2008 version, standards seems to become quite liberal in terms of documentation. There are some major changes occurred in this new standard which are important to note for every industry.

Broadly saying, new standard no more require quality manual in place. Nevertheless, industry can evolve it if they wish to. Standard has now adopted common term as “Documented Information” in place of documents and records. However, it is still important to identify where there is a requirement of document and record. For it, standard uses term “Maintain documented information” for document requirement and “retain documented information” for record requirements. Continue Reading: Documents and records are required under the ISO 9001:2015

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How to handle customer audits?

Very limited client like to overhear that they are being audited, predominantly by a customer, managing the infrequent audit does not have to be a worrying know-how for producers. One of the keys to handling a customer audit is, knowing what the auditor is observing for, so that you can well lodge the audit and keep processes seriatim easily. With this in mind, here is a list of the stuffs that customer auditors most usually stare for when carrying out an audit:

When auditors are evaluating business processes or location, one of the major things that they are observing for is some kind of clue that your industry processes are prearranged out and have aims or principles that they should complete too. Auditors need to know what controls are in place to approve that engineering process conforms to both firm’s interior necessities and the necessities of outside groups.

Every document and record that business uses which might shake your capability to deliver service to clienteles or encounter client quality standards, distribution, protection, ecological, lawful, and other singular necessities should be strongly measured, yet willingly retrievable. Archives and documents that an auditor will check comprise:

Continue Reading: How to handle customer audits?

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Team Energy

Commitment of management and

A clear thoughtfulness on goals and outputs of the programme.

In order to drive the above mentioned requirements team building plays an important role. Where team building means a consensus of everyone in an organization i.e. from top management to worker while implementing ISO 50001:2018. Without team it will be difficult for an organization to develop and sustain a system over a time. So, building a team is an important step while introducing EnMS into your system. Continue Reading: Team Energy

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Measuring Safety

Does your organization have an Operational Health and Safety Management certificate i.e. OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001:2018 standard, you may have wondered exactly how the effectiveness of such a system is measured. Most of us are well aware of how easy it can be to measure direct elements of business, such as sales or expenditures, but for health and safety matters it is not so straightforward. Firstly, the implications of non-performance of an OH&SMS can risk your workforce’s safety at work, and secondly, OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001:2018 states that systemic continual improvement is a must – and both ensure that accurate and meaningful measurement of your OH&SMS must be undertaken. So, how is this best done? Visit: Measuring Safety

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EnMS: Internal Audit Steps

Most of the companies consider internal audit as one of the requirement of ISO 50001:2018 which has to be fulfilled by preparing some of the documents. Which sometime leads towards misleading by providing false data. Well, they are not realizing conducting internal audit helps them analyse processes of their system, means whether things are aligned towards company objectives and strategies and what can be done to grow our system from good to excellent.

Internal audit steps:

Following steps will help you to lead towards successful internal audit:

Audit Plan: The initial step towards a successful internal audit is an audit plan. Which brief the whole schedule of an audit. The audit schedule should be available to everyone and if it is not then it somewhere reflects management having trust issues with employees working under them. On the other hand, planned audits will help you to establish the culture that the auditor is here to help and at same time it put some positive pressure on employees to strive for results, which is good for management.

Conducting Audit: While performing an internal audit first thing that is to be kept in mind that it is not only a meeting legal compliance's. The internal audit will be more about looking at processes against which energy related plans are outlined by the company. Are they monitoring deviations in their energy performance? Are any required operational controls related to energy in place? Are they addressing non conformities and the corrective action to be taken against those activities? In short, we have to evaluate that the process meets planned conditions with respect to how it can interact with energy.

Audit Report: It is one of the crucial step and if it is not done properly it can lead poor repercussions. So, whether employees are doing well in the processes they are engaged or there are any problems, they should be aware of their performance and understand where are they lacking so that they can address and correct it. Opportunities for improvement are also addressed in the process while audit, sharing that opportunity for improvement with process owner and sharing his/her views on them can also add values to it.

Follow Up: Following up on the NC or opportunity for improvement found during an audit helps to identifies the current status of the process. Well in most of the cases it was seen that follow up is the least considered done part of the internal audit. If there is no closed loop system in the organization, then there is no fun of conducting an internal audit at first place. Therefore, follow up helps you to mitigate the problems that are previously identified in the internal audit and prevent reoccurring of problems again and again.

Do I have to conduct separate audit for EnMS?

Well, the answer is NO. As per revision of ISO 50001:2011 into ISO 50001:2018, which makes it more compatible with other management system standards. So, now you can audit the same defined processes in context of energy and other management system like QMS, EMS etc. Only the thing that have to be kept in mind is to satisfy all the requirements of the standards while conducting an internal audit and if you can do it in single visit, that will be beneficial for you and your company.