Common root causes of deicing audit deficiencies

SureConsult performs a significant number of deicing quality control audits annually on behalf of its global airline customers.

Audits are conducted to ensure that the deicing service provider conducts safe and efficient operations in accordance with regulations, industry standards, and airline programs, and that all personnel tasked with functions under the program are properly trained, qualified, and monitored. The audit further ensures that the provider retains all the required documentation and records and has internal processes to self-evaluate and to implement changes based on results of such internal verifications.

Looking back with several years of knowledge, we’ve seen our fair share of very poor audits, and there are general similarities between them. In this post, we’ll examine some of the common high-level root causes of audit failures.

Lack of preparation

Very often, the company or individual being audited is unprepared for the audit, even though audits follow similar checklists that are provided in advance. We’ve seen cases where a new recruit or someone with little experience has been tasked to manage the audit without mentoring. We’ve also had instances where experienced personnel were overly confident that they could glide through the audit without exerting any effort. Whatever the reason, being unprepared for an audit is largely inexcusable because it only requires effort to fix.

Poor documentation and records

Probably the most common audit deficiency is poor documentation and records, or poor organization of documentation or electronic files. And yet, this is probably the easiest area to master. If your records and documentation are in good order, you will typically do well in an audit, however the reverse never applies.

Lack of ownership

A lack of ownership in the audit context is a lack of caring from the one being audited. If you don’t own the process or care about the results, then score is simply a number and is irrelevant.

Lack of quality prioritization

If management processes such as quality management are deficient or improperly prioritized, then audit scores will reflect this. You cannot achieve success in service delivery without having strong management processes and controls. It always boggles my mind when companies are shocked by an audit result or make excuses for why results aren’t as expected or, even worse yet, blame the messenger. Internal quality audits are designed for companies to understand where they reside and to make changes as required, but if the process is non-existent or too self-congratulatory or serves only as a tick-box exercise to demonstrate records during external audits, then the point has been missed. The external audit is, at the end of the day, a verification of a company’s management systems and internal quality system. Without these, audit success cannot be achieved.

Business culture

Auditors are generally detail-focused individuals. Many auditors have a general sense of how any audit will go based on discussions with the provider leading up to the audit and within the first 10 minutes of stepping onto an audit site. Good auditors notice the way they are greeted, the interaction between work colleagues, the cleanliness of the workspace, and the level of preparation for the audit. They notice body language. They notice the tone of discussions. They sense uneasiness. They can see the happiness of the workplace, and the engagement from management in the process, or lack thereof.

Unhealthy business culture is probably the most important root cause to audit failure, as it permeates the entire business and ultimately allows other root causes to exist and fester. Business culture is established top down, and if leadership doesn’t set the tone for expectations or establish accountability or prioritize quality, how can the employees below be expected to achieve success? I completed an audit many years ago that contained a lot of pencil-whipping and fictitious records, in addition to widespread findings. Rather than demonstrate accountability and commit to improvement, the senior management of the company fought the audit results and patted themselves on the back every time they managed to resolve a finding through negotiation and wearing down the customer airline. The audit result at the station in question was the exact same the following year, because corrective actions were reactive and no proactive strategies were put in place to prevent the same from happening again. The company’s business culture enabled poor performance and failure without accountability.

Creating a culture of quality

Most audit failures are due to a culture that enables poor preparations, poor housekeeping, poor processes, poor ownership, etc. Therefore, overall quality can rarely be achieved without an internal culture of quality. A culture of quality is an environment where employees are engaged and care about the quality of their work, and company decisions are made to achieve a quality standard that is defined. The quality standard needs to be communicated and be credible and can’t simply be nice words on a piece of paper. Ongoing performance needs to be measured in an unbiased manner and corrections made in a continuous loop. The goal is to proactively pursue overall quality, not reactively chase compliance.