COVID-19 Remote Working FAQ

Further to our email on 9^th March regarding our business continuity plans for the purpose of COVID-19, we thought it would be useful for us to share some FAQs for those clients that have already or are intending on closing their offices.

1. How are we going to continue maintaining our audit schedule or implementation programme during the COVID-19 outbreak?

At present, our policy is that all Consultants shall be available on site with ‘business as usual’ unless one of the following circumstances occurs:

• You have advised our Consultant that your office has moved to home/remote-working, your  office is no longer open for suppliers, or;
• Our Consultant has had to self-isolate themselves due to criteria stipulated by the government – in such an event, if our Consultant remains available to work, they shall do so from home as agreed with yourselves.

2. What if our ISO audit is scheduled for the upcoming weeks/months?

That won’t be a problem at all. Certification bodies are conducting audits remotely. This approach has been confirmed acceptable by UKAS. If booked, your Consultant will be available to support as usual, but remotely. All of our Consultants are equipped to assist using conference call facilities or telephone/email.

3. What if our BRCGS audit is scheduled for the upcoming weeks/months?

At present, BRCGS audits can be carried out remotely as per the BRCGS decision tree for audits. If booked, your Consultant will be available to support as usual, but remotely. All of our Consultants are equipped to assist using conference call facilities or telephone/email.

It is important to note, certificated organisations with the ability to have remote audits but refuse them could see certificate expiry. If you are concerned about having a remote audit, we recommend you get in touch with our office ASAP.

4. We have a Stage 1 or Stage 2 audit booked; how will this be impacted by COVID-19?

From our understanding to date, all certifications bodies are moving to remote auditing. This includes Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits. If dates are already booked, those dates will remain. Your Consultant will also remain available to assist remotely.

5. What is remote working and how does it apply to internal and external audits?

Remote working is whereby indiviuals are working as though they were on site, but they  are not there physically in person.

Internal Audits – our Consultants will spend time preparing internal audit checklists and or documentation (depending on whether you are currently implementing a new standard or maintaining an existing standard) ready for a scheduled call which will take place at time to suit you. During the call, you may be required to screen share or send over records to demonstrate compliance. Should a management review need to take place, our conference tool allows for multiple users to be on the call at the same time.

External Audits – this will follow the same protocol as the internal audits however will include the external auditor. If booked, your Consultant will also be available as required

6. What technology will we need to continue working with GQA remotely?

There are a  number of tools which can be used in order to remote work:

• Zoho Meeting – This is GQA’s preferred tool and enables one-to-one call or conference (multi-person) calls. Our clients do not require any accounts or subscriptions to use this tool. Your Consultant can just send you a link and calendar invite for the agreed time to conduct the call(s). You will be able to join via telephone or  PC (you will need to ensure that a microphone and speakers are available and switched on). This tool allows for screen sharing too.
• Email – This can be used for you to send over documents such as records relevant to the audit being conducted. All of our Consultants are obligated by confidentiality agreements, just like they are when on site, and shall not retain any information shared for longer than is necessary.
• Telephone – Should this be a one-to-one call, you may prefer to use telephone and email – we are happy to accommodate you as required.

7. We don’t have electronic copies of all of our documents, how will you be able to audit them?

You can either scan or take photographs of documentation in order to share this remotely. This will be the case for both internal and external audits.

8. When do you think things will be back to normal and our Consultant will be back on site for face-to-face meetings?

As per point 1, if our Consultant is fit and healthy and not under criteria specified by the Government to self-isolate due to COVID-19, they will be back on site as and when you authorise them to do so.

Should you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate in contacting our office on 01782 512 127 or emailing us.