All employers have regulatory agencies they must answer to, such as NGBs, OSHA, EEOC, and others.
Facility maintenance teams make sure their workplace is safe and follow all standards.
A CMMS can help maintenance teams ensure that all compliance is adhered to strictly.
Compliance doesn’t happen overnight.
You can, however, make it easier by implementing continuous improvement processes and using a CMMS.
Learn about six ways a Computerized Maintenance Management System, or a CMMS can help you stay compliant.
How a CMMS Prepares You for Compliance Audits
Software that automates the maintenance management process is ideal for meeting regulatory compliance standards easier for every business.
Regulatory compliance is an organization’s adherence to laws, regulations, and directives relevant to their business processes.
When you have processes in place to track the movement of products and services, it’s easier to manage them.
These processes may include production, maintenance, and service, and all these can be managed by capturing data in a CMMS app.
Depending on your industry, you may have regulatory compliance standards to which you must adhere.
You can find out what regulations your industry has by researching online or talking to experts in such a field.
For example, companies in the sports industries must adhere to strict U.S. National Governing Bodies of Sports standards, as the activities undertaken in these events are subject to physical and psychological constraints.
Leisure and entertainment companies need to keep up with the ever-changing laws in entertainment in a bid to remain relevant in their fields.
What Auditors Want to See
When it comes to compliance audits, auditors want to see that you comply with the following five criteria:
- Quality Procedures
- Adhere to Procedures
- Quality Record Keeping
- Check the Results
- Act on the Differences
A good CMMS can assist you with all of these steps. Here is a simple example:
Let’s say you are a bakery that produces large amounts of bread and cakes.
The industrial-sized ovens in which you bake your products get greasy and dirty after use.
To prevent grease and bacteria from collecting to unsafe levels, you should sanitize them before using them again.
As a service provider, you must create an audit trail that is easy to follow.
This audit trail should include all the work order records for the sanitation process, instructions on how to complete it, and documentation of its completion.
If someone inspected the oven to ensure sanitation, documentation should also show that.
Additionally, if any problems were encountered, improvements to the process should be documented in the CMMS.
How a CMMS Prepares You for Compliance Audits
Compliance audits are a necessary evil in running an effective business.
They ensure your business follows regulations and prevent it from being fined or shut down.
While you may be tempted to ignore them, this will only lead to trouble in the future.
Thankfully, there are a few ways to make compliance audits easier with the help of a CMMS.
1. Audit Trail Capabilities
Audit trail capabilities build a record of everything that is changed on work orders.
This includes who did the change, what changed, and when it was changed.
These capabilities are common in maintenance software and are important for passing audits.
Audit trail functions were designed to meet the needs of companies that have multiple locations.
This allows you to verify procedures in minute detail.
In addition to being able to see work order change records, you can also view employee use of CMMS software.
2. Digital Signatures
In the pharmaceutical, medical, and food and beverage industries, companies must follow strict procedures for their products to be accepted by the FDA.
Some of these companies use a CMMS to prove that they follow these procedures via digital signatures on work orders.
This allows them to bypass paper records and submit everything digitally.
Work orders can be set to close when all the task steps have been completed automatically, and you can choose to require approval for specific work order types.
There are other settings that you can select for additional regulatory compliance.
3. Reporting
Computerized Maintenance Management Systems often have built-in reports.
Maintenance reports prove to regulators you are complying with regulations, especially those related to your equipment, maintenance activities (work orders), and labor.
Most CMMS software can help you modify reports for your compliance audit needs.
If a specific report is not found, you can always have a custom report created.
4. Preventive Maintenance Tasks
If you have a CMMS, you can create a project management task list.
This list contains the standard procedures for various jobs that are to be followed every time.
When creating a work order, the user selects these tasks and adds them to the work order.
This ensures that the correct procedure is followed every time, allowing your team to be proactive.
Automated project management activation ensures that daily, weekly, monthly, and annual checks or inspections are never missed.
Maintenance history (created for corrective maintenance jobs) displays proof that the jobs were completed.
5. Customization of Field Requirements
System administrators can use custom fields or forms to ensure all necessary data is captured.
This ensures compliance audits are passed, and errors are avoided.
Over to You
Compliance audits are not always scheduled annually.
Some companies find themselves being audited more often than once a year.
This is called a surprise audit and is used to ensure that businesses are always abiding by all of the government’s regulations.
24/7 Software offers a CMMS solution that can assist you when it comes to compliance audits, whether scheduled or not. Schedule a Demo to see all the features 24/7 Software offers and how they can help you with compliance audits.
