SQMC's own Quality Manager, Karen MacKenzie, sums up the key changes between ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 9001:2015. Part 1 (of 2).  

I've been very impressed by our newest overseas client, Stock Spirit Group, of Poland. Not only did their 9 trainees pass their IRCA certified ISO 9001 Lead Auditor training course first time, earlier this month; but they all did so using English as their 2nd or 3rd languages. This is no mean feat, as anyone who has sat what is a very advanced-level external auditing theory examination will tell you!

The thing about auditing is that it takes a confident auditor to do it well; by which I mean to do it professionally and to keep control of the audit at all times. But before I discuss that aspect of auditing, let me do what the philosophers do at the start of a discussion and ‘define my terms’...

The Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) of ISO 9001:2015, the world’s most popular management system standard, has been released.

ISO 9001:2015 formally adopts a more risk-based approach to Quality management. In this 3rd installment of Karen MacKenzie's 'The thing about auditing...' series looks at 7 ways which risk-based audits can provide a good return on your investment of time and wages.

The thing about auditing is that it is risk-based. We audit what is important – what poses the greatest risk to the organisation. Just as you would at home in carrying out checks last thing at night, you check the most important areas – the areas of highest risk: the front door, the back door, the windows, that the electrics are switched off.

The long anticipated Final Draft (FDIS) of the new ISO 9001:2015 International Standard was finally published on Friday. Chair of the ISO subcommittee revising the standard, Nigel Croft, commented on whether there were any major changes in this latest development:

Part 2 of Karen MacKenzie's series: 'The thing about auditing...' (catch up on part 1). Today, Karen explains the value of standardisation meetings for your auditors.

As an auditor, the responsibility for my on-going development, to be the best I can be, lies with me.

Karen MacKenzie reflects on the 'pinball wizardry' of auditing

I discovered that I am in the habit of starting sentences with this phrase, ‘the thing about auditing….’

I use it when I’m auditing, I use it when I’m training auditors, and I use it when I’m working as a consultant implementing ISO management systems.

Where would we be without Standards? In the UK and across much of Europe we often complain about the standard of products or services – but at least we know, or should do, that there are governmental and organisational Standards in place to guarantee a certain level of Quality and safety.

Health and safety regulations can sometimes seem like an easy target for some tabloids, who circulate unfounded myths about bans on playground conker games and trapeze artists in hard hats, which the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) must then go on to disprove.