By Ben Snyman, Cofounder and CEO, AuditSoft
With 30+ years of experience in risk management and a legal background (B.Comm, LLB, MBA), Ben is a recognized authority in OHS compliance, committed to advancing health and safety and pioneering industry-leading solutions that strengthen due diligence and risk mitigation. Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.
The fourth edition is here. The first update since 2018. And AuditSoft and COR® remain a step in front of it.
But let us be clear from the start. ISO 19011 remains the baseline. The best-in-class guideline for management system and OHS auditing. Its principles, process, methodology, and structure are not to be deviated from without compromising the integrity of the audit itself. It is what keeps auditing evidence based, not opinion based. Fact, not subjective judgement. And at the core sits one thing that never moves: evidence, and a reliable, repeatable process. Everything that follows is built on that foundation, not around it.
The seven principles stand. The structure holds. An audit is only as good as its evidence. Evidence that is reliable, sufficient, verifiable, and relevant. An audit you can trust, and repeat, with the same result. What made an audit credible in 2018 makes it credible in 2026.
The technology the standard now supports. Remote and hybrid auditing is no longer the exception. It is the norm. The guidance finally speaks to digital evidence, electronic records, and the tools auditors already use, with alignment to ISO/IEC TS 17012. In short, ISO 19011:2026 formalises what AuditSoft has done in support of COR® since 2020. Through COVID and beyond. We at AuditSoft did not lower the standard to fit the technology. We built technology that meets the standard.
This is where AuditSoft and COR® have gone further for years. Not by departing from the standard. By building on it.
COR® trains its auditors and gives them explicit guidelines, closing a gap the Institute for Work & Health flagged back in 2005: inter-auditor reliability in OHS audits was surprisingly low, even when the content was sound. Different auditors, different results. That is the problem AuditSoft and COR® were built to fix. We fixed it with standardised questions, guidelines, and rigorous Quality Assurance. Same evidence. Same standard. Same result, auditor to auditor. ISO 19011 still does not solve it.
ISO 19011 still does not address comparable data sets, or treat structured data capture as a technology element. AuditSoft and COR® do. Jurisdictional. Industry specific. Quantitative. Comparable. Points and percentages across documentation, observation, and interviews. Richer evidence at the point of audit. Data that associations, certifying partners, industry, and companies use to make data-driven health and safety decisions at the macro and micro level.
It is entering audit report writing fast. Used well, it saves time and strengthens consistency. Used carelessly, it threatens auditor accountability, data security, and the integrity of the evidence itself. ISO 19011 does not address it yet. AuditSoft already does, building AI in proactively, keeping the auditor accountable, the chain of custody protected, and security non-negotiable.
That is AuditSoft’s edge. A differentiator. A disruptor. An Innovator. One platform protecting the integrity of the evidence across qualification, QA, and audit. End-to-end. Traceable throughout. Every result evidence based. Every result reliable. Every result repeatable.
It is what makes the certifying partners and associations who use AuditSoft, and the evidence they produce, among the most rigorous and defensible of their kind not only in Canada but anywhere in the world.
The elements never changed. How we at AuditSoft support them did. We do not deviate from the standard. We build beyond it.
