Engineering projects face a growing range of audits, assessment and monitoring, but will Covid-19 restrictions on movement make it difficult for consultants to carry out this vital work?
The answer lies in leveraging information systems and communication platforms and finding innovative ways of verifying information that used to be confirmed during a site visit. While some audits monitor a range of project risks on behalf of financiers or investors, others are necessary to satisfy regulatory requirements.
“Meeting clients face-to-face on a project site has usually been considered by consultants as an integral part of conducting an audit or assessment. But Covid-19 lockdown conditions have forced us to look at other ways of verifying information. This might include the sharing of satellite imagery online, or live data reviews with the client as part of the audit record," says Chris Dalgliesh, SRK Consulting principal environmental scientist.
Most audits require a combination of desktop work – analysing documentation and data from the client – and on-the-ground observation conducted during a site visit.
“In many of the larger, international projects where we monitor environmental and social performance against good international industry practice (GIIP) such as the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), it is certainly very useful, even essential, to be physically present,” he says.
This is particularly the case where an audit needs to ascertain the capacity of health, safety and environment (HSE) teams, and to assess whether something has been done to the required standard.
“Other types of audits require us to analyse past performance rather than current activities, and here the documentation is really the focus,” he says.
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