ISO certification audit process

Nowadays, various industries are constantly competing to prove to customers that their products and services are trustworthy and have multiple attributes such as quality, safety, and security. The implementation of the ISO management system allows organisations to showcase their commitment to continuous improvement to their customers. This is because, to acquire an ISO certification, organisations have to undergo a strict ISO audit. By the end of this article, you will gain an understanding of:

• What an ISO audit is.
• Learn about the audit procedure in Australia.
• Understand the differences between the three types of audits.

Why ISO certification audit is important?

Customers understand that only those organisations that successfully clear the stringent requirements of an ISO audit are granted a certificate, and therefore, feel a sense of assurance whenever they see the logo of ISO on a company’s product or website.

companies spend a lot of time and resources to ensure that they comply to the recommendations of the standard and clear the ISO audit, because with their certificate, they get to enjoy benefits such as increased brand reputation, enhanced employee engagement, efficiency in their operations, better management and reduced costs.

Hence, the importance of an ISO audit cannot be underestimated. Furthermore, in order to subsequently maintain your ISO certification, your organisation is required to conduct internal audits regularly as a part of the ISO requirements to ensure proper implementation of processes within your management system. For example, if you intend to obtain ISO 9001 certification, one of the first steps is to choose an ISO 9001 auditor.

What is an ISO audit?

An ISO audit is a test of your organisation’s compliance with one of the standards expounded by International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The audit enables the company to check how far the objectives have been achieved and how well the processes are conforming to the standards.

Usually, and ISO audit is scheduled at least once a year, depending upon the process of the organisation that is being audited. You can get more information by reading the ISO 45001 auditor article.

An audit must cover all activities, especially those relevant to the management system or the ISO standard that is being implemented in the organisation.

The objective of conducting an ISO audit

Essentially, the objective of conducting an ISO audit is:

• To check the suitability of the standard, procedures, regulations and conditions of implementation within your organisation.
• To ascertain that there is consistency in the implementation of the processes.
• To identify areas of improvement and develop key processes that help to enhance the working condition in your organisation.
• To fulfil customer requirements or market demands.
• To comply with statutory and regulatory requirements.

What are the three types of audits?

There are three types of audits that you need to know about in order to successfully maintain your certification and to measure the effectiveness of your operations. This includes:

First-party audit: internal auditor

the first party audit, that is carried out within your company by a designated department/section consisting of internal auditors or an ad hoc internal auditor. The goal of the internal audit is to evaluate compliance with the standard and identify existing deficiencies.

Second party audit: supplier audit

Similarly, a second party audit is also known as a supplier audit. A second party audit takes place when a company performs an audit of a supplier to verify that they are adhering to the requirements specified in the contract and are aligning to the recommendations of the standard.

Third-party audit: certification audit

A third-party audit, which is also known as a certification audit, is carried out by the auditors of a certification body. This audit aims to assist your organisation in achieving the ISO certification to the relevant ISO standard by ensuring that there are no non-conformances.

Audit procedure in Australia

Third-party or certification audits are generally carried out in two stages:

First stage: Desk audit

One of the requirements prior to the certification audit is to provide verification that the company has implemented the management system for at least six months. However, this time period could vary depending upon the requirements of different certification bodies. Hence, the first stage is also called a “desk audit,” where an auditor checks the absoluteness of documents against the requirements stipulated in the standard.

Second stage: Compliance audit

The second stage is usually referred to as a “compliance audit,” where the certification body auditors will examine the objective evidence stated in the documented information in addition to scrutinising the company’s procedures, work instructions and records.

The aim of the compliance audit is to ensure that there are no discrepancies between the documented information, the actual work processes and the recommendations of the chosen standard. If there are no major findings in the audit, the certification body will recommend your organisation for ISO certification.

The ISO certificate will be issued and is valid for a period of three years. Consequently, for the next two years, your organisation will be evaluated through surveillance audits to verify that your management system is still being implemented as per the recommendations of the standard. A re-certification audit will take place in the fourth year, thereby restarting the cycle.

Conclusion

An ISO audit is an evaluation that companies conduct to verify their processes. During a certification audit, the first stage focuses on checking the completeness of the documents against the requirements of the chosen standard and in the second stage, the processes are objectively examined.