ISO 9001:2008 Internal Audit Checklist

Check your organization’s compliance with ISO 9001:2015 using this comprehensive internal audit checklist. It contains all of the requirements needed to assess quality management at your business.

Can the bank exempt itself from sub-clause 7.5.4 Customer Property since customers provide confidential data when using its services?

Quality Management System
Implementing an effective quality management system is integral to any organization, and Lumiform’s templates offer auditors a way of verifying whether your company complies with ISO 9001 standards while its processes operate optimally and efficiently.

An effective QMS requires leadership from top management. Does your company demonstrate how their management actively participates in developing and implementing its QMS?

Have you planned changes to the QMS in a systematic manner and identified resources necessary for its creation, implementation, maintenance and improvement? Have you implemented a lessons learned process to evaluate its effectiveness as it relates to product conformance and customer satisfaction? Furthermore, have you identified potential areas of improvement and taken appropriate action on these opportunities?

Policies and Procedures
Policies provide employees with broad guidelines that allow for flexible decision making while procedures outline detailed instructions. It is vital to have policies in place and understand their differences from procedures.

Procedures form the cornerstone of your quality management system and set out expected levels of professional conduct for employees. They can cover a range of areas such as safety and health, interaction with customers and risk mitigation.

Audit questions in this section focus on your arrangements for verifying conformity and keeping records of such verification, such as plans for data backup storage or procedures for inspecting samples from production while making sure test results are properly recorded and accessible for review. It’s vital that your QMS meets ISO requirements – making this section of audit questions very crucial indeed!

Training and Qualifications
An ISO 9001 internal audit checklist is an indispensable resource for assessing your organization’s quality management system. Employees or external, verified auditors may use this tool. The goal of an internal audit should be to make sure your organization satisfies international quality standards and prepares itself for an Certification Audit.

A process audit checklist examines the actual processes within your company. Similar to supplier audit checklists, its subjects range from process definitions and evidence of inputs through to opportunities for improvement.

Auditors conducting this phase of an audit will examine training manuals and methods of verifying personnel qualifications. They’ll make sure upper management has delegated responsibility for assuring qualifications are being upheld and that there are suitable learning resources.

Process Hazards and Control Measures
Chemical plant operations may expose workers and facilities to risks that can result in fires and explosions, injuries and deaths as well as major property damage. A Process Safety Hazard Analysis (PHA) can identify such dangers while simultaneously providing safeguards to mitigate their occurrence.

PHA results should be integrated into an organization’s risk management system. Professional occupational hygienists and ergonomists may assist in identifying hazards and their appropriate controls measures.

Control measures may include elimination, substitution or engineering controls; administrative controls like working limited hours in hazardous areas and job rotation; as well as personal protective equipment (PPE). Isolating hazards by placing machinery in secure areas or placing substances in fume cupboards are examples of engineering controls; while using ear protection, eye protection or respirators as administrative controls is another method for controlling hazards.

Performance Evaluation
Evaluation processes should be objective and based on criteria related to the goals of performance evaluation, so managers can more readily identify areas for improvement while helping staff members develop their skills.

Erroneous evaluation methods may lead to inaccurate or biased assessments, while resistance to feedback can impede evaluation processes. Finally, limited resources make conducting and implementing an effective performance evaluation challenging.

Implementing an internal audit template can help ensure all steps required by ISO 9001 are followed correctly, which will increase your chances of passing your next registrar inspection with flying colors! Just don’t forget to follow up on recommendations to address deficiencies!