HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR COMPLIANCE TO ISO 9001 CERTIFICATION?

We understand that it’s not easy to implement the standard requirements of ISO 9001:2015 for maintaining an effective Quality Management System (QMS), however, your journey does not end with the certification. If anything, it just begins from there.

Once you have achieved the certification, your organization needs to go through regular audits in order to meet the requirements of ISO 9001 certification.

ISO 9001 is an international standard that provides a framework for the establishment of a Quality Management System (QMS). A QMS works towards meeting the expectations of consumers in terms of quality of products as well as enabling compliance to various quality-related regulations. 

In order to get certified with ISO 9001, first you need to establish an effective QMS in your organization. Thereafter, an internal audit must be performed to estimate the level of compliance and identification of gaps. The information gained by this can be further utilized by the top management to make decisions that would enable continual improvement of your system. 

The next step involves inviting a third party, an external certification body, to perform a series of audits to ensure the compliance of your processes, products and services with respect to the criteria set by ISO 9001 standard.

On successful completion of the audit, the certification body certifies you for three years. Since ISO 9001 focuses on continual improvement, it is essential that your organization adheres to the standard’s specifications throughout this period. For this, following audits are performed by our certification body:

The Surveillance Audit

These audits are not as detailed as the internal audit and are performed annually, or biannually. After two years of surveillance audits, the organizations are required to go for a recertification audit.

The auditor reviews the following aspects during surveillance audit: 

• QMS performance and its maintenance
• Preventive and corrective action plan and process
• Effectiveness of your internal audit
• Application of recommendations of internal audit to close gaps
• Regular review of the processes
• Analysis of customers’ feedback
• Regular update of documentation systems 

The inherent aim of these surveillance audits is to prepare you for a re-certification audit that takes place at the end of a three years cycle.

The Recertification Audit

This audit is performed at the end of the three-year cycle. It is as extensive as your initial certification audit. In this, the auditors thoroughly check all the areas identified during surveillance audits for the conformities. Auditors also examine the effectiveness of your strategies for the management system and check for your commitment towards continual improvement. On the basis of this recertification audit, the auditors make a recommendation for renewal of your ISO 9001 certification for another three years.

If you are continuously making changes in your QMS towards its improvement, obtaining a recertification of ISO 9001 shouldn’t be a problem. This involves educating yourself with the recent developments and channelizing effective communication throughout your system. 

If you want to learn more about the certification process, feel free to get in touch with SIS Certifications. We have a reputation for being one of the best in the world. Our vast pool of auditors is recognized for their expertise in comprehensively auditing the compliance of your management systems against the required standards and awarding you with the certifications at the end. The smoothness in the process, our integrity, and our commitment to deadlines make us stand apart from other certification bodies.

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