Certified Internal auditor is necessary? ISO 9001 requirement?

[Vinayak Dixit]

Hello all.,

I am working for a new start up company which deals in Electrical Control Systems manufacturing. As i am looking after the Quality and certification (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 ) process for the company, implementation of the IMS structure is a big deal and we have mostly completed the documentation.

Now we are planning to have the internal audits. And for the same we are planning to select the internal auditors from our company only and they are not certified but they are experienced.

So my question is Whether is it necessary to have Certified Internal auditors?????

Is it required ??? If yes why there is nothing mentioned in ISO 9001 ???

 

[somashekar]

Re: Certified Internal auditor is necessary ? ISO 9001 ask for that ???

ISO 19011 gives the guidance.
Your internal auditors must be trained per this guidance.
If you seek this training from some external agency who are competent, they could certify you, but the ISO 9001 does not ask such. It becomes just your company recognition.
The requirement is the audit to be impartial and with an objective.
The more your people audit, the better they learn, and become experienced.
One of the best learning is to catch from your CB audits ...

Read THIS

 

[lk2012]

Re: Certified Internal auditor is necessary ? ISO 9001 ask for that ???

Hi,
If you look in section 8.2.2 Internal audit, you'll find this:
...The selection of auditors and conduct of audits shall ensure objectivity and impartiality of the audit process. Auditors shall not audit their own work.
A documented procedure shall be established to define the responsibilities and requirements for planning and conducting audits, establishing records and reporting results....

In short, ISO9001 does not literally specify 'certified' (by which word I assume you mean 'holding formal qualification'), however, you need to describe in your own procedure what you're expecting the auditors to be like and to do. As a long-standing Automotive industry auditor, I'd recommend having at least one person as a 'Lead auditor' or 'Head auditor' and they would be fully qualified (e.g. having done a formal ISO9001 course for auditing). They can provide internal guidance for others and satisfy any pesky external auditors.

hope this helps
Lil

 

[AndyN]

Re: Certified Internal auditor is necessary ? ISO 9001 ask for that ???

Hello all.,

I am working for a new start up company which deals in Electrical Control Systems manufacturing. As i am looking after the Quality and certification (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 ) process for the company, implementation of the IMS structure is a big deal and we have mostly completed the documentation.

Now we are planning to have the internal audits. And for the same we are planning to select the internal auditors from our company only and they are not certified but they are experienced.

So my question is Whether is it necessary to have Certified Internal auditors?????

Is it required ??? If yes why there is nothing mentioned in ISO 9001 ???

No, certification isn't required - for any job (well, maybe some), certainly not for internal auditors. What you want is COMPETENT people to do audits. Competency is the demonstrated ability to apply skills and knowledge. So, define and document what you believe are competencies (Somashekar has mentioned ISO 19011 to help you) and then check if these candidates HAVE the competencies. Decide, if they don't HOW to build competency. Training may be needed...

 

[Vinayak Dixit]

Re: Certified Internal auditor is necessary ? ISO 9001 ask for that ???

Thank you all.. it was really helpful,,,