Issue 112 – Are your internal audits on life support?
ISO 9001:2015…
Are your internal audits on life support?
I appreciate receiving emails with questions and/or comments from readers of this Newsletter… please continue to do so since it provides me with ideas on what these publications should cover. In my last Newsletter (ISO 9001:2015 Newsletter Issue 111) we discussed the topic of “Is your CAR running properly?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “Are your internal audits on life support?”.
The ISO 9001:2015 Element numbering…
Element 4 – Context of the organization
Element 5 – Leadership
Element 6 – Planning
Element 7 – Support
Element 8 – Operation
Element 9 – Performance evaluation
Element 10 – Improvement
Here are a few suggestions to breathe some life back into your internal audits… If you are the QMS Management Representative then it’s probably been difficult to keep the internal audit program alive and well over the years… Here are some ideas to keep your audit team interested and motivated: A) Tell your auditors to try to look at auditing as a way to learn about an area they are not familiar with… being curious and wanting to learn more has kept auditing interesting for me (…at least for the past few decades that I have been doing it); B) Wear the hat of a typical Customer when conducting an audit… what I mean by that is, think like a Customer would… if you were spending your hard earned money buying the product/service that your company sells, what questions would you want answered?; C) Pick just one sample of an outbound product (or service) that your company provides and take it to each and every department… set it down on the bench or table or desk, and ask the person you are interviewing what THEY specifically do to make that product happen… and if a sample of your product is too large or can’t be carried around (or if you sell services), then find a way to represent it using possibly a picture/graphic of that final product or service… the idea is to get the discussion laser focused on how your interviewee contributes to making that product or service a reality… I use this approach myself (and have watched others do it as well) and it is a great way to get from just “general” audit discussions into a more specific dialogue… and by the way, it works equally well with top management, with front line employees, as well as with every supporting function; and finally, D) One more way you can slice and dice your QMS is to perform an internal audit of some of the Customer Complaints that have been received over the past year… it’s a path somebody else should have already investigated (and resolved!) however I’ve done this in a few situations and unfortunately discovered that the “fixes” were not always permanent… nor were they always effective.
As a final comment… if you are one of a number of organizations that outsource their internal audits to an outside firm (and nothing within the ISO Standard prevents you from doing that), keep in mind that you still need to “audit the audit process”. In those situations, where I assist my Clients in conducting their internal audits, I recommend that they keep/retain objective evidence that they directed, observed, monitored, and were actively involved in, the conduct of the outsourced audit. This is how they ensure that their audit process is being carried out as planned and outlined within the QMS. The ISO Registrars that I have worked with have accepted this as evidence of “auditing the audit process”.
Be sure to watch for our next Newsletter issue where I will be answering some of the questions that I get from Readers of my Newsletters about how to implement the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 in a specific and practical way, that will also help improve business performance…
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Need Help?
ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Outsourcing (we can do it for you OR with you!)
For cost effectiveness, the Internal Audit function can be outsourced to an external experienced auditor on a periodic basis. This will provide an independent and objective assessment to management, of where process issues may exist, along with identifying opportunities for improvement. It will also provide the evidence needed to satisfy the Internal Audit requirements in the ISO Standards. We have used two different approaches with this service: a) We conduct the entire audit ourselves, or b) We act as the lead auditor, and along with your Team of internal auditors, we complete the entire audit together. This latter approach allows your people to receive guidance and direction from an experienced lead auditor while at the same time maintaining significant involvement in the internal audit process.
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Internal Process Auditor Training for ISO 9001:2015
The two (2) day Internal Process Auditing for ISO 9001:2015 Training Session is focused on a process approach to auditing with the objective being not only to assess conformance of the quality management system, but also to uncover process improvements during an audit. This goes hand in hand with the process auditing requirements found within ISO 19011 and the process approach covered in ISO 9001:2015, which promotes continual process improvement throughout this Standard. An enhanced checklist is developed, and there will be workshops throughout, to reinforce learning, as well as a live, practice audit. If you are looking to meet the ISO 9001:2015 internal audit requirements and to “raise the bar” for your internal audit program then this is the course you should consider.
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Until next time…
Tim Renaud
Helping Business Professionals Reduce Risk and Remove Waste!