Station Audit

What could possibly go wrong?

According to American businessman Alan Lakein, "failing to plan is planning to fail." We're not saying things are going to go wrong on your audit day, but we want you to be prepared in case they do!

• Rain, rain, go away... Depending on the locations of your Centralized Stations in each of your divisions, your Station Audit may take you outside to estimate refuse levels at some point. If it's raining (or snowing) this may put a damper on your progress very quickly. Make sure to check local forecasts before choosing your Audit Day. If you want to be even more proactive, make sure your auditors have jackets and rain (or snow) boots so you can audit rain or shine!
• Interrupting Work. While our recommendation is not to warn users prior to an audit taking place to make sure that results aren't affected by having people know that it's coming, you also don't want to be interrupting the flow of work for everyone else in the vicinity. For this reason, it might be a good idea to send out an email to anyone who may be affected by the audit on the day of and make sure that people are okay with you entering their work space. While you aren't auditing directly at people's desks, you will be auditing near them, and if someone has a client coming in that day, for example, it would be courteous to make sure your audit doesn't interfere with their client meeting.
• Safety Hazards. If your audit will take you into any areas where specific safety hazards exist, be sure to wear all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required in those areas. For example, if you will be entering into a warehouse and company policy dictates that everyone on the warehouse floor must wear hard hats and steel-toed shoes, then make sure you are also wearing that equipment.

Remember! At all times you should be following all rules, regulations, policies and procedures outlined in your organization's Employee Handbook. If you aren't sure what risks you run while conducting your Station Audit, be sure to speak with your Human Resources representative before you start auditing!