Site visit sample sizes

Many organisations own a range of similar operations, such as similar retail units or offices. It may not be necessary to visit every site and participants should choose an appropriate sample of their portfolio for audit.

The number of site visits proposed should preferably be discussed and agreed with the Lead Assessor at the audit planning stage.

The sample of operations selected for audit should be representative of the range of different sites/vehicles etc. and must be sufficient to provide confidence that the audit findings and recommendations for the participant will be complete, applicable and accurate.

Assets should be categorised and examples could be:

• Function of the building (e.g. office, manufacturing facility, retail store)
• Building fabric and type of construction
• Building age
• Building occupancy and usage, including number of occupants and usage patterns
• Size of building (e.g. internal floor area)
• Processes and equipment operated
• Location of building
• Fuel types used
• Current energy/fuel use
• Vehicle type and age

Justification of your selection will need to be included in your evidence pack.

In our next newsletter we will discuss site visit sample sizes