How your FM provider can help during accreditation and audit processes

Company audits, whether for health and safety, compliance or accreditation for ISO or other standards, can be a stressful time for all involved.

But did you know that your FM provider can help ease some of the stress as they are likely to have some of the documents you need to assemble right to hand, and should be happy to help you through the process.

The nature of facilities management

Facilities management, more than almost any field, is about planning and specifically about establishing and then following clearly defined procedures for all activity. A good FM company will certainly have many formal accreditations and will be extremely familiar with formal processes and compliant with such standards themselves.

They will also almost certainly manage their FM work through a centralised Computer Aided Facilities Management system.

Gone are the days of filing cabinets groaning with thousands of service sheets for thousands of completed cleaning and maintenance tasks. Amongst other things, a CAFM system is an online portal that can ensure all your records, servicing schedules and invoices can be kept in one secure location making it easier to obtain any information or documentation you are asked to produce as part of an audit.

Why you might need this information

There are various circumstances in which the work of your facilities management partner might involve data you need in order to demonstrate something:

• You have chosen to adhere to a voluntary standard, such as ISO 45001, where FM work done on your behalf is of relevance.
• You are to undergo a Health and Safety Inspection – a workplace inspection carried out by the HSE as they judge necessary, with a legal obligation to comply. An inspection will look at documentation detailing your systems and compliance, as well as the physical conditions of the location.
• You have chosen to undergo a Health and Safety Audit –not a mandatory process, but something firms are increasingly choosing to do, because it demonstrates and helps ensure compliance with legal obligations. A manager within your company or an external expert you hire will validate your systems and compliance with those systems. Audits mostly focus on documentation.
• You have asked your FM partner to complete an obligation you have, such as PAT testing.

Brij Thankey, CEO at Precision FM comments: “The data that your FM company can supply can be vital to aid a variety of business decisions, anything from asset management to meeting room usage can be analysed in order to maximise efficiency across the business.

“But we also know that this data is crucial when going through an auditing process or compliance check. Our experience has shown that the information we can supply to our own clients as part of this process can ensure they feel fully equipped and reassured that we can draw down this data whenever it is required.”

 The importance of CAFM

Any modern CAFM system can generate various reports that you might find useful. Here are some of the reports you can ask your FM provider to supply if needed:

• The schedule of future planned preventative maintenance checks and cleaning/sanitisation work
• Full details of all past completed work
• Asset history detailing, by target of maintenance, work done (and scheduled)
• Full details of staff and subcontractors who have entered or may need to enter your site

The key point to emphasise is that full reports ought to be available at any time at the touch of a button, so if you need to prove your compliance in any related area, your FM partner should always be able to support you with the information you need.

Your FM company will also be familiar already with the obligations for various specific standards that it adheres to, so it may know already the information you will need during, for example, an ISO 45001 audit.

ISO tips

A formal external audit is the final step in acquiring an ISO certification. ISO certificates are always issues with a limited lifespan, typically three years, so you will regularly be audited and recertified. We will round off with some tips that we have found useful during the audit process:

• Documentation is everything; good intentions don’t count, nor does information everyone knows but isn’t written down
• Whether you’re being certified or recertified, start preparing well before the audit
• Make sure you have a staff member who understands the standard involved well enough to complete an internal audit and take those seriously, as the main shaping-up tool for the external audit you will need to pass
• Correct problems identified internally or externally, and remember to go back later and check the correction is holding
• Don’t just check for failures, check for weaknesses – aspects of the process that may lead to failure

If you’d like to know more about how we help you to remain compliant, contact the team at Precision FM for more information on 0116 366 6508 or info@precisionfm.co.uk.