Even for the experienced ISO Systems manager, audits can be a nervous time. The second guessing of what you have created in your systems and what your ISO certification auditor is going to be looking for can lead to over thinking things and even on extremes the odd restless night.
It does not matter if you are certifying to ISO9001 for quality management, ISO14001 for environmental management, ISO27001 for information security management, ISO45001 for occupational health and safety systems management or even ISO13485 for medical devices quality management systems, the auditor is looking for the same key things across all the standards. We have put together this helpful run down of exactly what you need to know.
Your auditor is looking to assess only three things at the end of the day, and they are not going to be a surprise:
That's it, it's just those 3 things, it's not a lot really.
Auditors are human, it may not seem like it sometimes, but they are. That means that they can get a little annoyed with you at times. Especially if you:
Pro Tip
It is simple, be up front, do not waste theirs or your time. Allow the auditor to run the audit and do not try to cover things up. The aim of the audit is to help you as an organisation and help identify opportunities for improvement.
Pro Tip
While your auditor is not allowed to consult or explain in detail about how to fix an issue it is absolutely fine to ask for the audit for their opinion when something comes up that either of you are not satisfied with. They are likely to give you some guidance without stepping over the mark of no consulting.
Auditor expects you to be ready for them, their arrival is not a surprise. You need to have an area set aside for them to work privately, to be able to interview staff and that the company has planned for people to be available, after all they have already sent you an audit plan in advance.
The auditor expects that you are going to have a system that is ready and is being used and looked after.
Pro Tip
Remember that you are going to have a long-term relationship with this auditor as auditing companies tend to send the same person for all your ISO certification and surveillance audits. That means you will see them again each year over your certification window. Build a relationship with them.
Pro tip
Keeping in mind the ISO auditor can go anywhere, speak to anyone, and look at anything you have it is important to ensure everyone else in your organisation knows this. Make it clear that they are to be helpful and open with the auditor.
As we mentioned before they cannot consult on an issue, they can offer hints and pointers but no detail consulting. They also cannot raise a Non-conformance on something which is not in the standard so if you are doing something over and above the standard and they do not like it that is not enough to raise a non-conformance. Technically they also cannot raise a non-conformance where they cannot prove you do not comply with the standard.
Pro Tip
It is ok to argue and debate with your auditor, you should be ready to do this where it makes sense. If you believe that a non-conformance has been raised for something that cannot be tied back to the ISO standard you are being audited for then you absolutely need to challenge it before they leave and again if it comes through on the report.
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