ABSTRACT
The Plaudit sticky note technique mentioned previously can be very useful in helping the auditor converge on the real issues. Following the verification stage of the audit, the auditor will be left with a number (possibly a large number) of sticky notes that have not been verified or are previously identified as issues. The problem will be that these notes often represent symptoms rather than the real underlying cause of the nonconformance. In a compliance audit the recommendations would be to address each of the nonconformances individually. This is appropriate in that situation, as only one instruction is being audited at a time and the number of nonconformances is usually at a manageable level. In the case of a major management or specialist audit, where multiple aspects of SHE are being reviewed, there may be a need to merge nonconformances to create recommendations that address underlying problems and not just the symptoms or consequences. In these circumstances, what is required are management actions, rather than a long shopping list of technical points.
