What are the main cost drivers for an R2v3 audit?

SERI’s calculations of audit time have shown that the biggest single driver of audit time are the ISO 14001 and 45001 management systems, with smaller facilities being disproportionately affected.  When budgeting for audit costs, be sure to understand the impact and cost of the other standards that are being audited.  It may be worthwhile to compare required audit times and costs for RIOS (a single certification that meets R2v3’s requirements for Environmental, Health & Safety, and Quality Certifications)  vs. the multiple ISO/other certifications required to meet R2v3 requirements for Environmental, Health & Safety, and Quality certifications. For many facilities, RIOS may be the more economical option.

For the R2v3 portion of the audit, the majority of time will be allocated to the PROCESS Requirements (Appendices).   The time required for R2v3 audits will largely be calculated based on three main factors:

• Number of employees associated with the certified processes, activities, and locations.
• Number of Downstream Vendors that are NOT R2v3 Certified.
  (No additional audit time is added for R2v3 Certified DSVs since they have already been verified through the audit process.  Using R2v3 vendors can help control audit costs.)
• Number of Processes (Appendices) being audited and certified.
  (Focusing on core competencies and using downstream vendors to process items that are outside of a Facility’s core business model can be a way of containing audit cost. Limiting the number of R2 Processes performed, reduces the number of R2 PROCESSES that must be audited.)

Nonconformities (NCs) are another driver of audit costs.  Before an NC can be closed, the auditor must take time to review the corrections and corrective actions taken by the facility.  Depending on the nature of the NCs, the review may be done remotely or on-site.  In either case, this extra time translates into extra cost.  Facilities can avoid NCs by preparing well.  This starts with facilities identifying and correcting NCs through their own internal audit process.    Good preparation also means providing the CB auditor with complete and accurate records that clearly demonstrate conformance to all R2 requirements.

For more details about audit times, see section 6 of the R2v3 Code of Practices.