Step 7: Perform Internal Audits
Perform an ISO 9001 Internal Audit
An external audit is conducted by a person outside your organization such as a customer or an independent third-party organization like a registrar to verify you conform to the applicable requirements.
An internal audit is used to assess conformity, evaluate effectiveness, and identify opportunities for improvement. Internal audits also help you prepare for external audits. To prepare for an internal audit the9000store offers a variety of ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Options.
It is necessary to demonstrate that your ISO 9001 quality system is effective. During an internal audit you will compare your quality system against the requirements of the standard. You will select a group of internal auditors from within your company to perform the audits. When the group of internal auditors are selected, they should be trained as auditors. ISO 9001:2015 Online Internal Auditor Training and ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Courses are designed to train internal auditors to have a successful audit for your organization. There are also ISO 9001:2015 Internal Auditor Training Materials, which are ISO certification-related presentations, with interactive training.
You will begin once your system has been implemented and will need to perform an internal audit of your entire QMS before your registration audit. The registration audit is the audit which is performed by the registrar who will issue your ISO 9001 Certificate.
Before your registration audit you will need to use and improve your system for 2-3 months. Read about using and improving your system in Step 6 for more details.
Helpful Information:
- Tips for Auditing
- Auditing without a procedure
- Internal Audit Sample Questions
- ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Options
- ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Materials
- ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Courses
- ISO 9001 Audit Checklist & Tools
- ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group informational page
Choose Your Audit Team
You will want to have a number of trained internal auditors for your audit program. You will be auditing each area of your facility at least once a year, with an audit team of 1 to 4 auditors depending on the size of the organization. You will want to have enough auditors to ensure they will not be auditing their own area. As a guide, your audit team should be roughly 10% of the total number of employees; a company with 50 employees would train 5 auditors and company of 100 would train 10.
Look for employees that have a strength in investigating issues and that are good communicators. Good people skills often result in a smooth audit.
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