Have you ever been subjected to a 3rd party auditor who won’t answer a direct question concerning a particular aspect of your business because she sees her answer as consulting? It is a fine line, but one worthy of adhering to. Why? Well mostly because within their charter as an auditor they are not allowed to provide advice or consult with you on a solution that they may have raised. But the real trap in seeking and getting advice is that there is no PDCA cycle for such advice or at least consideration of the right way to make changes and hence the advice is taken in isolation and could be very well wrong for organisation. It also sets a precedent that the auditor then knows more about your system and organisation than you do. Do ever, let this happen.
Now you can ask them questions concerning the standard, the certification process and perhaps to some extent interpretations of these aspects, just don’t be surprised if they give the no can consult answer if you haven’t framed it correctly. And when is the best time to ask them any question concerning a finding? Well, not at the exit meeting. The best time to ask is when the matter / finding identified / discovered and you are informed that it will be recorded in the report. Get clarification. Get the exact example they will cite, be comfortable about the result. Then, after you have considered it (and not necessarily at the time it was discovered) pose a possible solution and seek a determination whether your solution would have avoided or at least mitigated the original finding. If yes, well you can start down that track. If no, don’t badger them, rethink, reformulate and pose again.
However, if your certification provider is reporting findings correctly, you should be able to handle system changes as a result of audit reports without having to consult with them. Of course, you could always seek advice from a person who is paid to do so.previous blogs; http://johnmasonstuff.blogspot.com/ http://john-mason-stuff.blogspot.com/
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