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July 11, 2016
If you have recently achieved ISO 14001 certification, you will be aware of what the certification audit entails and the preparatory work that needs to be done on the lead up to it. You will also have had the auditor explain the process for the future; that is, you can expect a similar re-certification audit in three years’ time and a surveillance audit normally once per annum in the two years between. In effect, the surveillance audit will be the next external audit your organization will need to prepare for, so in light of that – what is the difference between the certification and surveillance audits, and is there anything we need to be aware of to help prepare?
With your EMS (environmental management system) now established and operational, you need to know what to expect from your surveillance audit. Fundamentally, the surveillance audit will attempt to confirm the following elements:
So, we can see that there both differences and similarities between the certification and surveillance audits, so is there anything else we should take note of?
Once you have navigated the full certification audit, then you really should be able to prepare for the surveillance audit with a minimum of fuss. In fact, if you find that this is not the case, then it is a sign that your EMS is not operating in the way it actually should be and you may need to investigate further. Our article 5 tips to help you prepare for your ISO 14001 surveillance audit can help you with this.
Making an internal audit checklist may well help you to ensure you have checked all the correct elements, which we examined in the earlier article How to make an ISO 14001 internal audit checklist. In the case of non-conformities arising from your certification audit, you can read more in the article Dealing with non-conformities from the ISO 14001 audit.
It could be argued that the surveillance audit is in fact a diluted version of the certification audit, and in fact you should find that if you meet the terms of the standard, strive for improvement, and use your internal audit to ensure all the processes are operational and work together, then passing your surveillance audit should be achievable. It is always worth remembering that the less effort you need to update your EMS for the surveillance audit, the better it is performing – and that can only be good news when the recertification audit comes around again.
Why not try our ISO 14001 Online Foundations Course to improve your knowledge?