Surveillance Audits -
What are they and what to expect
What is a Surveillance Audit ?
The initial audit to get an organisation’s system certified, is called the Registration Audit. Subsequent audits by the registrar are referred to as Surveillance Audits.
Surveillance
Audits are the ongoing periodic review of an organisation’s quality
management system, by a third party registrar (i.e. QAS). They generally
occur every six months. This period may be changed to every 12 months,
if the organisation shows a high standard of compliance.
With a system the size of ORGANIZATION , these audits are generally 2-4 days in duration.
What is the purpose of the Surveillance Audit ?
The
focus of Surveillance Audits, is to ensure continued compliance with
the ISO standard and the policies and processes of ORGANIZATION . Auditors look
for evidence that the quality system is being maintained in its entirety
and improved and corrected as needed.
The QAS Surveillance Audit also examines our use of the ISO logos, in our stationery and advertising materials.
The
outcome of the Surveillance Audit determines if we continue to hold
certification and acts as a vehicle for improvement ideas from an
independent body.
The
successful completion of a Surveillance Audit demonstrates to our
customers, that we are capable of maintaining and improving our level of
quality.
Surveillance
Audits supplement the two activities that we conduct internally, to
ensure continued conformance to ISO 9001 requirements - Internal Quality
Auditing and Management Review.
What will the auditors be looking for ?
The auditors will be looking for three main things when they review our system:
1.Whether our entire system conforms to the requirements of the ISO 9001
standard - they judge this by reviewing the adequacy of our documentation.
2.Whether we follow the procedures as they are written and if not why -
they judge this by finding concrete evidence that events are occurring or
procedures are being followed. For example, forms, records, registers,
memos, meeting minutes, manuals, documents, logs, calibration stickers and
certificates, computer databases etc.
3.Whether we are actively reviewing and improving our quality management
system - they judge this by looking into Internal Audit and Management
Review results, correction of non conformances, review of procedures and
the quality plans and objectives we are setting (in our case Strategic
Directions).
An auditor should outline to you what topic/process they are going to ask you about, so it should not be a surprise.
They
will probably ask you to explain to them how you do the task. Try to
answer in a logical step by step manner. If it helps, “walk” them
through the process/task.
Show them any up-to-date
records/forms/minutes etc. that you keep in conjunction with the task.
(remember they are looking for evidence to satisfy themselves that an
event is occurring and in the correct way)
If
you have a procedure for the task, refer to it and be prepared to know
where to find a copy of it. That is, with your area Quality Coordinator.
Do not show them a photocopy you have taken of the procedure, always go
to the original, controlled copy or webpage.
The auditor will look to see that you know how to address various issues if something goes wrong in the process.
The auditor will want to be satisfied that important information and documents are controlled and always kept up to date.
The
auditor’s aim is always to ensure that the quality of the service we
deliver, matches our customer’s needs and that we act on non
conformances and improve as necessary.
What to do if you do not know the answer to a question.
If
you do not understand the question that the auditor is asking, ask them
to rephrase or clarify the question. They should be happy to do this.
Rephrasing questions and assisting people to understand them, is part of
an auditor’s training.
If
you do not know the answer to a question, DO NOT MAKE IT UP. When
people make up answers that “sound good”, you inevitably end up with a
non conformance, as there will be no concrete evidence to back the
answer up. Instead, simply say that you do not know the answer and then
try to direct the auditor to someone who will be able to help them. If
you don’t know who to direct the auditor to, inform the Quality Unit
Representative of the question, so that they can chase it up during the
course of the audit.
The
auditor may ask you a question that you don’t know, because they do not
fully understand who is responsible for what functions/tasks. In this
case, it is good if you can clarify the person or area responsible for a
task, for the auditor’s future reference.
What happens if QAS find a non conformance during a Surveillance Audit?
The auditor issues a report listing any opportunities for improvement and non conformances such as
Something
that needs fixing but does not directly or strongly affect the quality
of the service. Or an issue that has strong implications on the quality
of the service delivered or the effectiveness of the quality management
system
QAS
may ask us to fix it during the course of the day or if this is not
possible, they will ask us to outline our proposed actions. They will
then review this activity at the next surveillance audit to ensure that
it has occurred.
