Updating auditor competence

I need to carry out an internal audit to ISO 14001:2015 version so if I had internal awareness training for the updates to the new standard ISO 14001:2015 would this be enough evidence for an External Auditors such as SGS.”

Answer:
Strictly by the book, internal auditor competence is defined and settled by the audit customer, for example, a management system audit program manager. So, as long as you can evidence the competence requirements of your organization there should be no problem. Having said that, I must confess that I already found some third-party auditors wanting beside the training for the update to the new standard, some kind of training on the risk-based thinking (RBT) for internal auditors. Perhaps because they were not satisfied with the RBT approach of the audited organization. Also, I can imagine that some e xternal auditors will start checking to see if internal auditors had any training on the update of ISO 19011:2018 version. But remember my first statement.

By the way, an odd thing happened in ISO 9000:2015 and ISO 19011:2018 definition of auditor it no longer mentions the word competence.

The following material will provide you information about internal auditors requirements:
- ISO 14001 – What competences should an ISO 14001 internal auditor have? - https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/07/04/what-competences-should-an-iso-14001-internal-auditor-have/
- free online training ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
- book - THE ISO 14001:2015 COMPANION – A A Straightforward Guide to Implementing an EMS in a Small Business - https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/