An ISO 9001 Certification Audit is a third party, independent audit on your premises by a certification body (registrars). They are not interested in the organization being audited. As part of ISO certification, the auditor or registrar will interview your leadership/employees, conduct tracers and look for documented information (Documents/records/procedures, etc.) to see if you meet all the requirements of ISO 9001. The outcome of the audit is based on their findings.
If your organization’s quality management system meets all the requirements of ISO 9001, they will issue the certification. If they find areas that are non-conforming with ISO standards, you are required to come up with corrective actions in a timely fashion, before you can be certified.
FREQUENCY OF ISO 9001 CERTIFICATION AUDIT
The frequency of ISO Certification Audit is every three years. Once your organization is ISO certified by a certification body, your registrar will check-up on your quality management system periodically using surveillance audits to verify that you are still in compliance or conformity with the ISO 9001 requirements. These audits are more or less like a certification audit, but no new certificates are issued as the purpose of this audit is to validate the original ISO certificate issued. Surveillance audits are required to be done at least once in a year.
CHOOSING ISO 9001 CERTIFICATION AUDITORS
The following factors need to be considered when Choosing ISO 9001 Certification Auditors.
- Cost of ISO 9001 Certification Audit: Cost of ISO 9001 Certification audit is based on several factors, such as the size, the number of employees, complexity, and the kind your existing quality management system. Not all auditors are the same and therefore do not expect the same level of outcome from them. Some of them are accredited and others are not accredited. However non-accredited does not really mean they are inferior in quality or they are not reputed. LMG will assist you with choosing the right certification body for your unique needs.
- Quality: A well experienced ISO consultant can pinpoint areas that are non-conforming and need improvement. Approaching an ISO 9001 Certification audit with an underdeveloped quality management system or with a lot of non-conformities is a waste of your time and money.
- Location: The location of the ISO 9001 certification auditor is another factor to be considered when choosing an ISO 9001 certification auditor. Auditors from far away locations can cost you additional expenses like boarding, lodging, travel expenses, etc. So it is always recommended to choose an auditor from your city or state.
As part of our ISO Consultation service, LMG closely works with various certification bodies and helps you reduce the cost of ISO certification by choosing the right certification body for you.
