Hi there - anyone have a simple "do's" and "don'ts" list for employees in preparation of ISO 9001 registration? I have something I use but always like to see what others are doing.

Thanks,
plastic gal

Do:
Tell the truth.
Know where to find information if not known.
Say "I don't know" if the answer is not known.
Answer the questions completely.

Don't:
Lie.

When asked "What did they tell you not to tell me?" by the auditor, don't tell them!

Really happened:lmao:

Oh yeah, get your employees sunglasses for the bright lights. Come up with an alibi for the night of June 16th. Um um um....

Tell them the auditors are looking at _processes_ and they should not take things personally. That if problems are reported, everyone will be invited to participate in civilised root cause analysis and corrective action. There will not a witch hunt or a blame game. For example, you might say, if people are doing the wrong things through lack of training, the training will be provided and the process for making sure people get it when they need it will be improved.

If you can, get the most senior manager available to say this, in public, at the opening meeting, to help develop the trust necessary for a realistic, honest appraisal of your system. (Of course it takes more than that to establish trust, but it's a start.)

But, if blame games are common in your neck of the woods, you might just want to tell them to take a vacation ... or, more seriously, in your role as "guide" make sure the auditors meet the difficult managers and write findings in section 5, on management responsibility, instead of fueling blame games by picking on the little guys who can't change anything. Not that that ever happens, of course ...

On the other hand, if yours is a civilised organisation where managers actually manage (and they do exist), please ignore this post, you'll be doing it already.

Patrick

Do answer the questions directly and truthfully.

Don't offer anecdotal evidence.
Don't answer a larger question than asked.
Don't expect a lot of depth--this is a wide scope audit, not a deep-slice process audit.
Don't divulge trade secrets unless it is necessary to provide the needed evidence of conformance.
Don't "rat" on the employer by telling the auditor only the stuff you think is going wrong.
Don't worry--this is a system audit, not a "Plastic gal" (personal) audit. Even if there are problems, nonconformances can generally be fixed and the audit eventually passed.

When asked "What did they tell you not to tell me?" by the auditor, don't tell them!

Really happened:lmao:

How very sad and, unfortunately, also very true. Management really needs to learn how to learn from the audit situation :bonk:

I had a list that i made a long time ago. if you want to send me an e-mail with a fax i will try to find it and send it out.

I keep it simple:

a) Be honest

b) Be polite

c) Remember it's an audit of our system not YOU!!!!


Best Regards,
:)

Al

Thanks for the constructive comments. Pretty much what I had put together myself but nice to see a common thread with other folks.:bigwave: