ISO 19011 is a set of good practice guidelines for auditing management systems, and was first issued in 2002. At the end of November 2011 a revised version of the standard was published, known as ISO 19011 : 2011.
The most noticeable changes to the revised standard are:
- The new title of the revised standard is “Guidelines for auditing management systems”, whereas the initial title was “Guideline for Quality and Environmental Management System Auditing”. Since it was initially published in 2002 there have been many new management systems published resulting in a need to consider a broader scope of management system auditing.
- It now clarifies the relationship between itself and ISO 17201 Conformity assessment. As ISO 17021 : 2011 focuses on third party auditing (certification body), the revised ISO 19011 : 2011 now focuses more on the guidance of first party (internal) and second party (supplier) auditing.
- It gives guidance on knowledge and skills of management systems auditors and team leaders, but rather interestingly it no longer makes reference to auditors having completed education, work experience, auditor training and audit experience. It does however recognise that education, work experience, training and audit experience are enablers to competence and effective auditing, and recognises that (in line with ISO 17021 : 2011) competence needs to be evaluated.
- A new separate section on discipline-specific knowledge and skills has been introduced. It recognises that auditor competence comprises generic knowlegde and skills of management systems, plus aidditonal discipline (e.g. OH&S 18001) and sector specfic (e.g. Aerospace) knowlegde and skills. Some of these new discipline-spceific skills include Environmental management, Quality management, Transportation safety management, Information security, Records management.No guidance has been given on sector-specific knowlegde and skills, but these may be developed at a later stage and published seperately.
- It is now easier to read thanks to a new Annex which presents all additional information and help in one section.
- There is new guidance on combined audits, where 2 or more management systems are audited together (e.g. QMS 9001 and EMS 14001).
- The standard now discussses remote auditing and the technologies that can be used to conduct and record remote interviews.
What do these changes mean to you?
Well that depends on what type of auditor you are. ISO 19011 is only a guidance document, but is what it does provide is a set of best practices that will help you improve the skills of your audit team. To obtain a copy of the revised standard please visit the official ISO.org website for further information – http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm
Would you like to learn what these changes mean to auditing ISO 9001?
The Batalas ISO 9001 Lead Auditor training course and the ISO 9001 Internal Auditor training course cover the 6 steps of auditing in detail, why not take a look.
