ISO 9001 Surveillance Audit Checklist

Maintaining ISO 9001 certification requires periodic surveillance audits. Proper preparation for these audits can help your company avoid unnecessary expenses and lost productivity.

An ISO 9001 surveillance audit checklist provides auditors with a tool to ensure they have reviewed all necessary documentation and processes during a surveillance audit. In this article, we'll cover its main aspects.

Review of Documentation

At this stage of an audit, an auditor examines documentation related to your company's quality management system, such as quality manuals, procedures, work instructions and records. This helps establish whether processes align with ISO 9001 standards.

Auditors evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of the documented management review process and training requirements within an organization, in addition to their implementation.

Although a surveillance audit focuses on fewer processes than the original certification audit, it remains important for certified organizations to demonstrate their commitment to meeting ISO standards and remain compliant. Failing to correct major nonconformances found during surveillance audit could jeopardize certification altogether.

ZenGRC makes preparing for an ISO 9001 surveillance audit easier with its checklist, templates and tools. This multi-purpose form supports audit planning, guides auditing activities, evidence and findings recording as well as record keeping of audit activities evidence and findings. Plus it can even be configured according to industry, number of physical sites and process auditing needs - making the preparation of ISO 9001 audits much less of a headache!

Review of Processes

After passing an initial certification audit, surveillance audits should be carried out annually to verify your organization's quality management system (QMS) is still meeting ISO standards. These audits assess key principles implemented and compliance with specific clauses within the standard.

Document review and site visit audits allow auditors to observe processes and consult with staff to ensure the quality management system (QMS) is being adhered to, including reviewing manuals, procedures, work instructions and records - these audits also aim to check whether documentation meets ISO requirements.

Preparing for a surveillance audit can be time consuming and challenging, yet is an integral component of quality management. Prep for an audit requires careful planning, document review, process evaluation, staff readiness evaluations and mock audits or practice audits so the audit team becomes familiar with all processes within an organization's processes and operations.

Review of Non-Conformances

Undoubtedly, discovering one or two non-conformances during the surveillance audit process is often seen as positive evidence that your quality management system (QMS) is functioning effectively; it indicates that you're monitoring things carefully enough to identify and address issues as soon as they arise. But multiple non-conformances should be seen as cause for greater alarm as they could prevent certification or re-certification processes from being successful.

Surveillance audits tend to focus on several key processes, including quality management policy and objectives, quality manual, documentation and supplier relationships as well as internal audit effectiveness evaluation.

Though surveillance audits tend to cover more ground than certification audits, it's essential to remember that major nonconformities found during certification audits must be addressed immediately or your organization could lose its ISO 9001 certification. Even though an external certification body brings fresh eyes and ideas for improvement to your processes, you still need to stay on the lookout for improvement opportunities.

Review of Corrective Actions

An effective ISO 9001 audit checklist will include a section for reviewing corrective actions related to the surveillance audit. This ensures that any non-conformances identified during the audit are resolved quickly while any improvements identified during it can also be implemented and maintained over time.

At this stage of an audit, auditors will review documentation including quality manuals, policies, procedures, work instructions and records to assess their effectiveness and efficiency as well as whether documented procedures reflect actual practices within an organisation.

As part of an ISO 9001 surveillance audit, it's crucial that employees take this audit seriously and are well prepared. A pre-audit meeting may help clarify any questions and set expectations - ultimately leading to an efficient ISO 9001 certification process.