The International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) have recently announced a major change to the criteria used for all QMS Auditor Training Courses approved by them. These changes affect all training organisations that deliver QMS auditor courses and will come into effect on the 1st August 2013. From this date, all IRCA approved QMS courses delivered by any organisation worldwide must use the new criteria. Attending a course after this date using the old criteria will mean that your certificate will be invalid.
This includes both the 2 day QMS Internal Auditor course and the 5 day QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor course.
Below is a list of the most significant changes and how they affect you as a delegate:
QMS Internal Auditor Training Courses
The new criteria now states that delegates attending this course have a minimum level of “recommended prior knowledge” in the following areas:
Management systems
- Understand the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle
Quality management
- A basic knowledge of the concepts of quality management and the relationship between quality management and customer satisfaction
- Understand commonly used quality management terms and definitions, as given in ISO 9000
ISO 9001
- An understanding of the requirements of ISO 9001, which may be gained by completing an IRCA-certified QMS Foundation training course or equivalent.
In basic terms, the 2 day QMS Internal Auditor training course will no longer teach the requirements of ISO 9001 (and the ISO family of standards – ISO 9000, 9001 & 9004), the process approach, the benefits of a QMS, the documentation of a QMS and the terminology used in a QMS.
As of the 1st August 2013, delegates will need to have this knowledge before they attend this course.
From this date the 2 day QMS Internal Auditor course will concentrate on providing delegates with the knowledge and skills to enable them to successfully perform an internal audit of part of a quality management system based on ISO 9001, and on how to report on the effective implementation and maintenance of the management system in accordance with ISO 19011 (Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems).
Furthermore, delegates attending this course will not be shown the skills on how to determine conformity to the ISO 9001 standard, they will only be shown how to determine conformity to the organisations management system. The IRCA have stated that this should be the role of the Auditor or Lead Auditor and not the Internal Auditor. Delegates wishing to audit their own organisation against the ISO 9001 standard should now attend the QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor Training Course.
For those delegates that do not have this new prior knowledge, they will either need to attend a 1 day QMS Foundation Training Course at any of our public venues (see below for details) or complete an online E-Learning QMS Foundation course (e-learning coming soon) before attending this Internal Auditor Training course.
QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor Training Courses
The new criteria now states that delegates attending this course have a minimum level of “expected prior knowledge” in the following areas:
a) Knowledge of the following quality management principles and concepts:
- The Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle.
- The relationship between quality management and customer satisfaction.
- Commonly used quality management terms and definitions and the 8 Quality Principles as given in ISO 9000.
- The process approach used in quality management.
- The Model of a Process Based Quality Management System, the structure and content of ISO 9001.
b) Knowledge of the requirements of ISO 9001, which may be gained by completing an IRCA certified QMS Foundation Training course or equivalent.
In basic terms, the 5 day QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor training course will no longer teach the requirements of ISO 9001 (and the ISO family of standards – ISO 9000, 9001 & 9004).
As of the 1st August 2013, delegates will need to have this knowledge before they attend this course.
From this date the 5 day QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor course will concentrate on providing delegates with the knowledge and skills to enable them to successfully perform 1st party (internal), 2nd party (supplier) and 3rd party (external and certification) audits of a quality management system against the requirements of ISO 9001, in accordance with ISO 19011 and ISO 17021.
As with the Internal Auditor course above, delegates that do not have this new prior knowledge before attending the QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor will either need to attend a 1 day QMS Foundation Training Course at any of our public venues or complete an online E-Learning QMS Foundation course (e-learning coming soon) before attending this Auditor/Lead Auditor Training course.
Full details of our QMS Auditor training courses can be found here:
IRCA 1 day QMS Foundation training course
IRCA 2 day QMS Internal Auditor training course
IRCA 5 day QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor training course
If you are not sure which course you need i.e. Internal Auditor training or Lead Auditor training please see this article What is the difference between Internal Auditor Training and Lead Auditor Training courses
Still confused – if you are unsure on what all of this means to you, please get in-touch:
Call us on 0333 700 9001
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