[Draft article - review and edit before publishing.]
Most operations managers are confident their inspections are being done. Far fewer are confident their records would hold up under a determined auditor - and it's the records that get examined. Here are the six questions auditors reliably ask, framed as a self-check. If any answer makes you wince, you've found this quarter's priority.
1. "Show me your equipment register."
Can you produce a complete, current list of Ex equipment - with locations, zones and certificate references? Registers that drift out of date are the root of most audit findings, because everything else hangs off them.
2. "What grade was this inspection, and why?"
Visual, close or detailed - the grade should be recorded and justified against your strategy, not implied. (If the distinction is fuzzy, start with our guide to the three grades.)
3. "Where is the evidence for this tick?"
A checklist full of ticks proves the boxes were ticked - nothing more. Photos, readings and notes attached at the point of inspection are what turn a tick into evidence.
Auditors have a saying of their own: if it isn't recorded, it didn't happen.
4. "What happened to this defect?"
Every recorded defect needs a traceable life: classification, priority, remediation, close-out, and who signed each step. Orphaned defects - found, logged, then silent - are among the most damaging findings an audit can produce.
5. "Why is this interval appropriate?"
Inspection intervals should trace back to a documented, risk-based rationale that responds to what previous inspections found. A fixed interval nobody can explain is a finding waiting to be written.
6. "Who did this work, and were they competent?"
Competence records for the people inspecting - training, experience, currency - complete the chain. The best inspection in the world is weakened on paper if the record can't show who was qualified to perform it.
The takeaway
Audit-readiness isn't a scramble before the visit; it's a property of how records are made every day. It's also precisely the problem Mantl-Core was built to remove - evidence captured at the moment of inspection, dossiers compiled automatically, nothing orphaned. If you'd rather find the gaps before an auditor does, we'll help you look.