Handling External Audits with Internal Vacations

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N

noboost4you

#22
but has anyone asked?
He's our one and only Engineering personnel. As mentioned above, the last guy quit a month ago. We'd rather not mess up this guy's plans. We change his plans, we go through with the audit. Couple weeks down the road he's fed up, the registration means nothing to a company that's "crippled." Not in the sense that he's the only building block to the company, but it would definitely hurt us if he left.
 

Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#24
In all reality, what could the auditor ask that cannot be learned by personnel that could take his place for the week?
You never know. If Murphy is at work--and he probably will be--the auditor will ask questions no one can answer. Two things: you need to reschedule the audit, and you need to fix things so that one person doesn't control all of the knowledge in any single area.
 

ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Staff member
Super Moderator
#25
He's our one and only Engineering personnel. As mentioned above, the last guy quit a month ago. We'd rather not mess up this guy's plans. We change his plans, we go through with the audit. Couple weeks down the road he's fed up, the registration means nothing to a company that's "crippled." Not in the sense that he's the only building block to the company, but it would definitely hurt us if he left.

my opinion -
You can't run a company walking on eggshells around one person.
Yeah - you have to treat your people right but in return you have the right to expect a certain amount of professionalism from key people.

Besides - If this guy is so key to the success or failure of the company then he darn well better be there for the audit, right?

I think you have a deeper issue here than worrying if you can pass the audit without the engineering manager
 
P

PVieira

#26
Having gone through a similar issue with our last assessment audit, I found it quite simple to handle the situation from two separate areas.

As our Quality Systems manager was the only person familiar with our ISO management program and all the documents, we were very unprepared for an audit due to him having a stroke. We called an rescheduled with the registrar (not easy ... but doable) which in turn gave us some time to acquisition someone to prepare for the audit.

All went well and we moved on.

And today our Quality Systems manager has returned to work.
 

SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#27
Unfortunately July-August-September are the peak vacation months around here and most of them have been approved since the beginning of the year.
You have just described 99% of US businesses, no? How often do you have your audits? Set up the next audit during current one, and make sure that management agrees. There is no law that says everyone has to be there during an audit. (you should attempt to get the people leading departments to be audited) If a key person is not going to be there (cannot change his/her vacation) just bring in someone to cover for them, but be able to prove that this sub is competent in the area. There is not one place in the standard that says every person employeed at a registered company has to be present during an audit.

This is not the end of the world. Now, if the same people are gone every single time the auditor comes in, the auditor may begin to smell a rat.
 
N

noboost4you

#28
my opinion -
You can't run a company walking on eggshells around one person.
Yeah - you have to treat your people right but in return you have the right to expect a certain amount of professionalism from key people.

Besides - If this guy is so key to the success or failure of the company then he darn well better be there for the audit, right?

I think you have a deeper issue here than worrying if you can pass the audit without the engineering manager
While I agree to a point, I disagree to a point as well. If he were to leave today it would be a shock but we would prevail. We may not introduce new products for awhile, but we'd still be in business. We aren't sitting over here biting our nails giving his guy everything he asks for. He understands the situation and would be here, but as with everything there is always some conflict.

We are a small company, theres nothing the Engineering manager knows that cannot be taught to another individual. Heck, the audit is 3 months away. Is everyone saying to reschedule an audit that far out because of one person being on vacation? Our processes aren't that complicated that any competent person couldn't learn.
 
N

noboost4you

#29
You have just described 99% of US businesses, no? How often do you have your audits? Set up the next audit during current one, and make sure that management agrees. There is no law that says everyone has to be there during an audit. (you should attempt to get the people leading departments to be audited) If a key person is not going to be there (cannot change his/her vacation) just bring in someone to cover for them, but be able to prove that this sub is competent in the area. There is not one place in the standard that says every person employeed at a registered company has to be present during an audit.

This is not the end of the world. Now, if the same people are gone every single time the auditor comes in, the auditor may begin to smell a rat.
I'd be interested in knowing what the other 1% of US businesses do ;)

At this time, I think training other personnel is our best option. We have 3 months until the audit which we believe is more than enough time to learn the department. Of course rescheduling the audit would be easier than training, it's just not feasible.
 
T

tyker

#30
We are a small company, theres nothing the Engineering manager knows that cannot be taught to another individual. Heck, the audit is 3 months away. Is everyone saying to reschedule an audit that far out because of one person being on vacation? Our processes aren't that complicated that any competent person couldn't learn.
So what's the problem? Nominate a deputy, get him trained, pass the audit.
Whoever does your internal audits should be able to tell you what the external auditor will be looking for.
Good luck.
 
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