Among others, what does Clause 4.4 (Quality Management System and Its Processes) of ISO 9001 require from organizations?
Knowledge and skills are requirements of the auditor's competence. Select two from the following topics of knowledge that apply to every member of an audit team auditing an ISO 9001 quality management system.
During a third-party audit of a pharmaceutical organisation (CD9000) site of seven COVID-19 testing laboratories in various terminals at
a major international airport, you interview the CD 9000's General Manager (GM), who was accompanied by Jack, the legal compliance
expert. Jack is acting as the guide in the absence of the Technical Manager due to him contracting COVID-19.
You: "What external and internal issues have been identified that could affect CD9000 and its quality management system?"
GM: "Jack guided us on this. We identified issues like probable competition of another laboratory organisation in the airport, legal
requirements on COVID-19 continuously changing, the shortage of competent laboratory analysists, the epidemic declining soon,
shortage of chemicals for the analysis. It was quite a good experience."
You: "Did you document these issues?"
GM: "No. Jack said that ISO 9001 does not require us to document these issues."
You: "How did you determine the risks associated with the issues and did you plan actions to address them?"
GM: "I am not sure. The Technical Manager is responsible for this process. Jack may be able to answer this question in his absence."
Select two options for how you would respond to the General Manager's suggestion:
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
As stated in scenario 1, AL-TAX tested the effectiveness of the intended actions as part of the QMS improvement through the PDCA cycle. Which stage did it perform in this case?
A small cleaning services organisation is about to start work on a hospital cleaning contract for the local Health Trust. You,
as auditor, are conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 and review the contract with the Service Manager. The contract
requires that a cleaning plan is produced.
You: "How was the cleaning plan for the contract developed?"
Service Manager: "We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and cleaning methods to be
employed. Some of that is specified by the customer."
You: "How does the plan deal with locations like the intensive care wards and the operating theatres, which are included
in the contract?"
Service Manager: "The basic plan covers general wards, but we will do more frequent cleaning in those areas if the
hospital requests it."
You: "Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for cleaning standards in hospitals?"
Service Manager: "No. We depend on the hospital to look after that side of things in the contract."
You decide to raise a non-conformity against section 8.2.2.a.1 of ISO 9001.
You decide to raise another non-conformity against section 8.2.4 of ISO 9001 when finding that the
cleaning plan was amended without the agreement of the Health Trust. A different cleaning chemical was
substituted to that specified in the contract. At the follow-up audit, the corrective action proposed was to
"obtain a concession from the Health Trust for use of the new chemical."
Which one of the following options is the reason why you did not accept this action taken?
The following list gives examples of records that may be evidence of how an organisation has fulfilled the requirements of clause 8.4 of ISO 9001. Match the records to the appropriate requirement of clause 8.4.
Noitol is an organisation specialising in the design and production of e-learning training materials for the insurance market. During an ISO 9001 audit
of the development department, the auditor asks the Head of Development about the process used for validation of the final course design. She states that they usually ask customers to validate the product with volunteers. She says that the feedback received often leads to key improvements.
The auditor samples the design records for a recently completed course for the 247 Insurance organisation. Design verification was carried out but there was no validation report. The Head of Development advises that this customer required the product on an urgent basis, so the validation stage
was omitted. When asked, the Head estimates that this occurs about 50% of the time. She confirms that they always ask for feedback and often make changes. There is no record of feedback in the design file for the course.
The auditor raises a nonconformity against ISO 9001. Which one of the following options is the basis for the nonconformity?
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
Based on scenario 4, conducting which of the activities below is NOT the responsibility of Anne?
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
In scenario 3, the audit team required access to see the organizational chart and job descriptions to verify the employees’ competence. Based on audit best practices, is this acceptable?
Which of the following is a responsibility of a guide in an audit?
