Preparing for a surveillance audit

Answer:

The surveillance audit, like the certification audit, is an on-site audit done by the certification body, will have corrective actions issued that need to be addressed, and will have an audit report issued to your organization as a record of the audit. The difference is the number of hours devoted to processes in the audit.

For the certification audit, the certification body auditors will look at the implementation of every process within your management system to check for conformance to the applicable standards, as well as your organization documentation, process effectiveness, and continual improvement.

However, the surveillance audit will spend less time on only some portions of your management system. They will start each time by looking at your key activities (such as management review, internal audit, corrective actions and complains treatment), and will then only look at some of the remaining parts within your management system. They may also only look at a portion of the whole organization, such as only one out of two operating activities, or even only certain sites chosen by the auditors, rather than multiple sites. Surveillance audits will take less time to perform than the original certification audit. The goal for the certification body is to audit all of the processes and business sites at least once within the management system during the three-year surveillance cycle.

There are no special documentation requirements different from the certification audit.

The following material will provide you information about surveillance audits:

- ISO 9001 – What is an ISO 9001 surveillance audit? - https://advisera.com/9001academy/blog/2016/10/18/what-is-an-iso-9001-surveillance-audit/
- Surveillance visits vs. certification audits - https://advisera.com/27001academy/knowledgebase/surveillance-visits-vs-certification-audits/
- free online training ISO 9001:2015 Foundations Course – https://advisera.com/training/iso-9001-foundations-course/
- book - Discover ISO 9001:2015 Through Practical Examples - https://advisera.com/books/discover-iso-9001-2015-through-practical-examples/