Conduct the Opening Meeting Content Guide

Conduct the opening meeting– content guide

Table of contents

Overview

Going on-site

Professional conduct

The opening meeting

Purpose of an opening meeting

Preparing for an opening meeting

Chairing the opening meeting

Opening meetings in larger organisations

Establishing the sequence of audit activities

Explaining paperwork, audit findings and reporting

Summary

Further references

Feedback to review questions

Overview

Once you have completed the planning phase of the audit process, you are ready to conduct the audit. Conducting an audit involves three stages:

1.establishing audit protocols at the opening meeting

2.reviewing workplace documents

3.reviewing workplace practice.

This Content guide will cover establishing audit protocols at the opening meeting.

Protocols are rules or practices that will be followed during the audit. Establishing audit protocols involves consulting with the auditee about how the audit will be conducted. The primary communication about the audit process between an auditor and an auditee occurs at the opening meeting.

Going on-site

Professional conduct

As an auditor you need to project a professional image, dress and act appropriately for a business context and be approachable. Remember, you will be working in a production environment. Usually, long trousers, a jacket with a business shirt and tie or scarf are appropriate for larger manufacturing operations, whereas you can generally adopt a more casual dress style for a rural operation.

Dress to prevent OHS issues

You’ll need to ensure that your dress does not create potential OHS issues. Always ensure you are wearing flat shoes, which entirely enclose the foot, are non-absorbent and have a non-slip sole. Before entering the auditee’s operational area, tuck ties and scarves into clothing. Don’t wear high-heeled or platform shoes, as parts of the production area may be slippery.

Most food production areas have a ‘no jewellery’ policy. You should check this before the opening meeting. If so, you will be asked to remove jewellery prior to entering the production area.

Have all the relevant paperwork, including blank audit checklists, and working pens (not pencils) easily available. Pens should preferably be metal.Remember that no glass or other objects that could fall into food are allowed in production areas. Be mindful that some businesses do not allow even pens and paper to be taken into production areas. You’ll need to ask about this at the opening meeting and then alter your approach to the audit, if necessary. You may need to break the audit into small stages, repeatedly entering the production area and leaving it to make observation notes and to complete the relevant sections of the audit checklist.

Personal hygiene

As auditors can be a significant source of cross-contamination, make sure that your hands and nails are clean, and your nails are neatly trimmed.Don’t wear long or false nails, nail polish or strong perfumes.

Clean clothing and clean shoes are essential when going into food handling businesses as they can also pose a significant risk of cross-contamination. You may need to think about where you have been recently. You may need to assess if you can even conduct the audit. If you have been in hen-laying sheds in the last week, or own pigeons or fowl, you are usually not welcome at another commercial hen-laying operation, as you could be a potential carrier of disease. For example, the Newcastle virus was a disease that resulted in mass-slaughtering of hens in specific areas in the late 1990s.

Punctuality

Arrive about five minutes before the mutually agreed time for the meeting. Ask for the key auditee contact by name at reception. It is appropriate to act courteously, without arrogance, pompousness or highhanded superiority when speaking with the contact person. You can put people at ease by being pleasant and friendly. Show an interest and an enthusiasm for the task to promote the trust and confidence of your contact.

Ethical behaviour

All auditors are required to conduct themselves according to professional and ethical standards. You may be working as a contracted auditor on behalf of a company specialising in food safety audits. Keep in mind you are representing the certifying body, not your own business. Wearing your business uniform or ‘pushing’ your training or consulting services is not appropriate. This is unprofessional behaviour and may breach your employment contract.

Induction to the company

Once you have been given a good manufacturing practices (GMP) induction by the auditee contact, you must abide by their rules (unless you are testing their commitment by deliberately flaunting their ‘rules’ to see what corrective actions the auditee takes).

Review question 1

Think about professional people you have worked with. What aspects of their presentation and behaviour contributed to their professional conduct?

The opening meeting

The first step in establishing protocols for an on-site audit is to organise an opening meeting with the auditee’s key representatives.

Purpose of an opening meeting

An opening meeting is a face-to-face meeting that is generally held between the auditor (or auditor team), the auditee and their senior management. The opening meeting is a crucial point where an auditor can establish how an audit will be conducted in consultation with an auditee. Its purpose is to:

establish personal contact with the auditee

confirm the plan for carrying out the audit

explain and confirm the activities, roles and responsibilities of those involved in the audit

confirm communication arrangements and reporting requirements

provide an opportunity for the auditee to clarify issues and ask any questions.

Practical information you may want to confirm could include:

the products/processes that will be running while you are conducting the audit on-site

the areas to be audited

 any expected breaks in production.

Briefly explain the audit procedure to the auditee, outlining how the audit will be conducted, the techniques that will be used during the audit and the expected length of the audit. Establish the best way to conduct the audit during the time you are going to be on-site.

Also, it is critical to explain the implications of the audit findings and reporting protocols to the auditee.

At the end of the opening meeting, set a time for the closing meeting.

Preparing for an opening meeting

Prepare an agenda or listof items that need to bediscussed before the meeting. Remember that the opening meetingis an opportunity to cross-check the work you’ve already done when planning for the audit.

Chairing the opening meeting

It is your role as the auditor to chair the opening and closing meetings.

Welcome and introductions

Start the opening meeting by welcoming all attendees. Introduce the certifying body and yourself. Give an overview of your background including where you have worked and your audit experience. This will give the auditee confidence that you are competent to audit their operation. Also, remember to thank the client for choosing to use this certifying body.

At the opening meeting, record the names and positions of the people who attend. One method you can use is to provide some paper so that the members can print their names and positions in the organisation.

It is a good idea to have an attendance record and audit schedule to circulate to members (see Table 1 below).

Table 1: Attendance record and audit schedule

Food safety audit schedule and attendance record
Date of audit: ______
Start time: ______/ Audit file no: ______
Finish time: ______
Company being audited: ______
Address: ______
Company contact persons: ______
Phone/fax/email: ______
Auditor’s details: ______
Signature: ______
Company staff member / Position / Signature:
Entry meeting / Exit meeting
Proposed schedule
Time / Location
9.00 am / Arrival and set-up
10.00am / Site audit
11.30 am / Report write-up
12.15 pm / Completion; Auditee sign-off
Conditions for termination / The audit may be terminated if risk to team exists, or if conditions arise that make continuation of audit unfeasible.
Confidentiality / No commercially sensitive information will be divulged. Food safety issues will be referred to the Regulatory Authority as required by legislation.

Explaining the audit process

At the opening meeting the auditor should explain the audit process. Specifically, that the audit process will involve the:

• review of documentation
• review of workplace practices
• review of records
• consolidation of the outcomes of the audit, including the closing meeting.

If members of the opening meeting are new to the audit process, then it is wise to explain in simple language the purpose of an audit.

Explain that auditing is essentially a systematic and independent evaluation of the past history and current practices to give a future projection of performance. The auditor needs to confirm that the business has validated their processes and procedures. Validation evidence is often based on industry standards or codes of practice. The auditor also needs to verify that these standards are consistently met by observing and questioning the auditee to obtain objective evidence, by examining records, observing procedures and practices and questioning the auditee to establish that the food safety program:

• meets the requirements of the standard
• is effectively implemented
• is appropriate and effective.

Confirming and documenting audit protocols

During the opening meeting you will need to confirm and document the:

• audit schedule including the date of the audit, when the audit will begin, when it will finish and how long it is expected to take.
• type of audit
• standard(s) against which the audit is to be conducted
• company details including:

– company name

– site address

– postal address

– phone numbers

–facsimile numbers

–email address and website details

• company operations including:

– number of employees

– market share

– history of the business

– significant achievements

– plans for the future, etc.

• product scopeincluding production lines/facilities to be covered
• methods and procedures that will be used to undertake the audit, which can include:

– an explanation of the results of a desk audit

– circulation of a sample of the site audit checklist

– discussion of how you will collect sources of information (eg observation of activities, documentation review, interview with on-site staff)

• communication protocols including:

– how the auditee will be kept informed of developments during the audit (particularly in relation to non-conformities). It may be appropriate for a key contact to be in attendance throughout the audit process so that you can communicate potential non-conformances

– the need for a guide or someone who will stay with you during the audit across different operational areas

– the names of the people and information you will need to access during the audit

– the format of the audit reports

– who will receive the reports

• resources that may be required to conducted the audit including:

– protective clothing

– equipment, such as sensors and thermometers

– office facilities.

When discussing the audit process, use the auditee’s flow diagram in theirfood safety plan to communicate more effectively to the auditee (it’s theirs and they’ll understand it).

If you are conducting the audit in Victoria you also need to confirm is the name of the designated food safety supervisor.

Discussing confidentiality and legal issues

As well as confirming the audit details, it is critical that an auditor:

stresses the need for honesty and openness between auditee and auditor

confirms the requirement to inform the regulatory authority of food safety hazards. A major non-conformity will be reported to the client, agreed and then reported to the Department of Health. An auditor is bound by this process, otherwise there may be legal liability and professional indemnity issues (ie there is a risk the auditor will become an accessory to a breach)

outlines the conditions for termination of the audit (eg where there is intimidation or obstruction; safety issues; or the audit cannot follow the agreed plan and either party wishes to terminate).

At this point, you may wish to invite any questions related to the certification process.

If the proposal to undertake the work has not yet been signed, ensure it is signed before proceeding any further with the audit.

Promoting good food safety practices

You are likely to be working with businesses that hold different attitudes towards being audited. More experienced, good practice workplaces usually welcome input from an auditor as an opportunity to have a fresh set of eyes look at what they are doing and support the business to identify ways they can improve their performance. Less experienced businesses may be wary and nervous about the process. It is useful to remind the auditee that the value to be gained from an audit is not to get a perfect scorecard but rather to get a better understanding of areas for improvement. Everyone gets things wrong from time to time. High performing businesses are those that are able to recognise and learn from their mistakes. Auditors can make an important contribution to this process.

Communicating effectively

Effective communication skills are important throughout an audit. During the opening meeting, it is important that you invite the members to ask questions and that you show interest in all you are hearing about the organisation. Auditors also need skills in facilitating meetings and negotiating issues.

Facilitation skills

Being able to engage participants and facilitate discussion effectively is important in promoting good communication at the opening meeting and also in ensuring that a successful audit is conducted.

Interpersonal skills that support your role in facilitating effective meetings include:

• engaging and inviting input from all participants
• sharing speaking time
• managing interaction between participants
• keeping an open mind
• keeping the meeting focused on the agenda
• using active listening and providing constructive feedback
• not withdrawingor becoming submissive.

As an auditor you need to ensure that representatives do not leave feeling frustrated or not listened to. They are less likely to cooperate with the audit process if they feel this way.

Negotiation skills

It is likely that as an auditor you will need to employ negotiation skills throughout an audit, particularly to overcome differences of opinion regarding certain aspects of the audit process.

Some useful tips when negotiating differences between participants or between you and participants are:

• Clarify the issues and seek to establish the interests or perspective of the participants.
• Identify whether participants have sufficient information to resolve the issue. If not, identify the additional information required and agree on how to obtain it.
• Remain objective rather than personalising issues or comments. For example, ‘You haven’t sent through the food safety documents yet’, not ‘You never give me anything on time’.
• Don’t get defensive. It is easy when under attack to take it personally. Remember, that people are liable to get flustered or nervous when they are being audited. Make an effort not to take criticisms or attacks personally.
• The process of negotiating issues is as important as the outcomes. It is often impossible to resolve issues in ways that meet the demands of all participants but if people see that the process of discussing and working towards resolution is open and fair, they are more likely to accept the outcomes.

Common meeting problems

Effective opening meetings are the result of a team effort.

Common problems can occur in an opening meeting: here are some of them with some suggested ways to help solve the difficulty.

Common problems / Suggested solutions
Meetings always finish much later than planned /

• You could suggest that the team agrees on a finish time, and take care that not too many items are put on the agenda.
• As the auditor, you could say things that help to move the discussion along.

People do not arrive on time for the meeting /

• Ask if the meeting time is inconvenient for members. Agree on a time. People are more likely to keep to plans they have helped make.
• Say the discussion will have to proceed smartly to make up for a late start.
• Try to keep to the times set up in the agenda for each item.

Some members do not contribute to the discussion during meetings /

• You or the chair could ask them what they think.
• You could suggest that everyone gives their opinion, one after the other, going around the table.

Someone constantly moves the discussion onto their favourite issues that are not on the agenda /

• You could suggest they talk about it over coffee after the meeting, and then promptly ask what is the next item for discussion.

Recording the minutes

An important aspect of managing any meeting is ensuring that any decisions made are well documented to ensure follow-up action is carried out. Take notes of the decisions or actions at the opening meeting.