Conducting an ISO 22301 Audit
Domain 5 tests evidence gathering and on-the-spot judgement: opening meeting, interviews, observation, sampling, documenting findings and maintaining control of the audit.
Fieldwork rules
- Open with purpose, scope, criteria, method, confidentiality and safety; confirm logistics.
- Gather evidence by interview, observation and document review; triangulate at least two sources before concluding.
- Ask open questions, then probe; avoid leading questions. Follow the process end-to-end, including hand-offs and escalation.
- Sample across shifts, sites, suppliers and clauses; record what was sampled.
- Document each finding immediately: requirement, objective evidence, significance or risk, and the auditee's acknowledgement.
- Hold short team meetings to calibrate findings, avoid duplication and adjust the plan.
Worked example
A BC manager states that the crisis team exercised last quarter. The auditor asks for the exercise report, attendance list and post-exercise actions. The report shows objectives but no evaluation or corrective actions. The auditor interviews two team members who did not attend. Finding: the exercise programme does not evaluate capability or drive improvement (8.5 and 8.6). Reasoning: the claim is contradicted by records and interviews.
Traps
Accepting unsupported statements; sampling only the most cooperative department; writing a finding from a single undocumented observation; confusing an opportunity for improvement with a nonconformity; losing independence by advising how to fix it.