(1) A. ISO Auditing

A. ISO Auditing (Internal, Registrar, Certification, Outsource)

ISO 19011 QUALITY / ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AUDITING

Guidelines for Quality and Environmental Management Systems Auditing.

The cost of failing an environmental/quality management systems audit can take a number of forms: companies can lose valuable contracts or prized certifications; they may have to pay for an expensive range of improvements demanded by a client; they may experience and erosion of efficiency; etc.

ISO 19011: 2002 therefore offers guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems auditing. It is intended that by using this new standard, organizations can save time, effort and money by:

1. Avoiding confusion over the objectives of the environmental or quality audit programme.
2. Securing agreement of the goals for individual audits within an audit programme.
3. Reducing duplication of effort when conducting combined environmental/quality audits.
4. Ensuring audit reports follow the best format and contain all the relevant information.
5. Evaluating the competence of members of an audit team against appropriate criteria.
6. Whatever the reason for the audit, however (eg: certification, internal review, contract compliance, etc) itis intended that organizations can move efficiently through the process by applying the guidelines.