7.3 The Opening Meeting & Communication During the Audit

The audit plan built in Section 7.2 is still just a document until both sides agree it will actually be followed. The opening meeting is where that agreement happens — and it sets the tone for how information will flow for the rest of the audit.

Purpose of the Opening Meeting (Clause 6.4.2)

The opening meeting exists to confirm agreement of all parties — auditee and audit team — to the audit plan, to introduce the audit team, and to ensure all planned audit activities can actually be carried out. Attendees typically include the auditee's management and, where appropriate, those responsible for the functions or processes being audited; for a small or straightforward audit, the meeting can be brief. The level of formality and detail should match how familiar the auditee is with the audit process — a first-time auditee needs a fuller walk-through than an organization on its fifth surveillance audit.

Standard Opening-Meeting Agenda

A thorough opening meeting typically confirms:

• Introduction of participants and an outline of their roles
• Confirmation of the audit objectives, scope, and criteria
• Confirmation of the audit plan, including the audit method — on-site, remote, or a combination — and any changes since it was issued
• Confirmation of formal communication channels between the audit team and the auditee
• Confirmation of the resources and facilities the auditee will make available
• Confidentiality arrangements
• Relevant work health & safety, security, and emergency procedures for the audit team
• The method of reporting, including how findings will be graded (e.g., major nonconformity, minor nonconformity, observation/opportunity for improvement)
• The conditions under which the audit may be terminated
• How complaints or appeals about the audit or its conclusions can be raised
• The audit team's availability for questions from the auditee throughout the audit

For a combined or joint audit, the opening meeting needs to separately confirm scope, criteria, and reporting arrangements for each management system or each participating audit organization, so nothing gets assumed to carry over automatically from one system to another. The opening meeting is also the auditor's last checkpoint before evidence collection begins — it is far better to surface a misunderstanding about scope or access here than to discover it midway through a site tour.

Communication During the Audit (Clause 6.4.4)

Communication does not stop once the opening meeting ends. The audit team should confer periodically — even briefly, between site areas — to exchange information, assess progress against the plan, and reassign work between team members if one area is taking longer than expected. The audit team leader periodically communicates progress, significant findings, and any emerging concerns to the auditee and, as appropriate, the audit client, rather than saving everything for the closing meeting.

Some communication cannot wait. Evidence suggesting an immediate and significant risk — a safety hazard, for example — must be reported without delay so it can be acted on. Similarly, if evidence collected on-site suggests the audit objectives are becoming unattainable, this must be reported to the audit programme manager and the auditee or audit client so an appropriate decision can be made. Any need to change the audit's objectives, scope, or criteria that becomes apparent during the audit must be reviewed and approved through the audit programme manager and, where necessary, agreed with the auditee or client before the audit continues — an auditor should never unilaterally expand or shrink scope mid-audit.

Roles of Guides and Observers (Clause 6.4.5)

Guides are appointed by the auditee to assist the audit team. Their responsibilities include establishing contacts and timing for interviews, arranging access to specific areas of the site, ensuring the audit team knows and follows site safety and security procedures, witnessing the audit on the auditee's behalf, and providing clarification or helping to collect information when asked. Guides should not answer interview questions on behalf of the person being interviewed, should not influence or interfere with how the audit is conducted, and should not restrict access to areas or records that are within scope.

Observers — regulators, other interested parties, or auditor-competence evaluators, for example — may accompany the audit team with the agreement of the audit team leader, the auditee, and the audit client. Access for observers may be restricted for confidentiality reasons, and observers do not act as auditors or influence how the audit is conducted.

If a guide oversteps — answering questions for the interviewee, or steering the auditor away from an area flagged for observation — the auditor should professionally redirect the interview back to the person actually doing the work and, if access is genuinely being restricted, escalate through the audit team leader. That escalation ties directly back to the feasibility and objectives-attainability reporting covered above: restricted access is exactly the kind of thing that must be communicated, not quietly worked around.

This same discipline applies to daily debriefs on multi-day audits: at the end of each day, the audit team leader should give the auditee a short, informal summary of progress and any concerns raised so far, so nothing at the closing meeting comes as a surprise. Surprises at closing are usually a sign that communication broke down somewhere during the audit, not that the auditee's system suddenly got worse overnight.

With roles confirmed and communication channels open, the audit moves into its core activity — collecting and verifying the evidence covered in Section 7.4.