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Su ISO 9001:2008 Awareness potete leggere un articolo dal titolo: "INTERNAL AUDIT OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM".

Questa è la versione tradotta in italiano con il traduttore automatico di Google.

Conducting internal audit is a vital tool to assess organization’s quality management system. The organization gets information in a planned way by conducting internal audit from a variety of sources. The purpose of conducting internal audit is to find out the answers to following questions:
- Is quality management system of the organization conformed to the planning of product realization carried out in the organization?
- Is the quality management system of the organization conformed to the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard?
- Is the quality management system of the organization conformed to the quality management system requirements established by the organization?
- Is the quality management system of the organization effectively implemented and maintained?

An internal audit is a tool to monitor and determine the health of the quality management system of the organization. For an organization, a properly conducted audit is beneficial and we need to conduct value added internal audit that is useful to the organization, auditee department, management representative and top management.

Clause 8.2.2 of ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard deals with internal audit requirements. As per requirements of ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard, an organization needs to conduct internal audit at planned intervals. An audit process should include the following aspects:
- Planning of internal audit – such as planning of audit schedule, assignment of auditors, auditee area, and scope of audit, status and importance of processes, results of previous audits.
- Examining and reviewing the quality management system documentation of the organization,
- Examining and reviewing other relevant information of the organization, such as production reports, failure trends, customer complaints, customer survey reports etc.
- Examining and reviewing the quality management system procedures and processes by visiting the audit area spot, interviewing relevant personnel and looking to relevant processes.
- Reporting the internal audit results (including corrective action requests from auditors).
- Verifying corrective actions taken.

An organization should have a documented procedure for conducting internal audit that define and narrate the following aspects:
- Audit criteria
- Scope of the audit
- Frequency of audit
- Audit methods
- Responsibilities and requirements for planning and conducting internal audit
- Relevant audit records (including results of audit) to be established and maintained
- Reporting results of the audit.

Does ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard mention specific frequency of internal audit? How frequently does an organization need to perform internal audits? Is it fair to conduct internal audit once in two years?
ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard does not mention specific frequency of internal audit. Requirements of ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard say conducting internal audit at planned intervals. As such the Standard binds the organization to conduct internal audit at planned intervals. It is up to the organization to decide the frequency of internal audit.

How frequently does an organization need to perform internal audits? It is very relevant question. Internal audits need to be performed to cover all quality management system activities the organization undertake and all the ISO 9001:2008 Standard requirements. In deciding the frequency of internal audits, the organization should consider following factors:
- Complexity of procedures and processes
- Maturity level of the organization’s quality management system
- Nature of business activity
- Problematic aspects and areas as per history
- Organization approach for monitoring and improvement
- Frequency of management review

On considering above points, it is now clear that it is unfair to conduct internal audit once in two years as the time gap between two internal audits will be too long.

What should be done after getting results of internal audit?
The organization gets information about the areas which need correction and/or improvement from the results of internal audit. The information from internal audit results becomes input for the management review.

Who should perform internal audits?
Internal QMS auditors should perform internal audits. ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard has two relevant important requirements:
- Selection of auditors must ensure objectivity and impartiality of the audit process
- An auditor must not audit his/her own work.

Clause 6.2.1 of ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard mentions the requirement of competent personnel performing work affecting conformity to product requirements on the basis of appropriate education, training, skills and experience. Accordingly, the personnel conducting internal audit must be competent to audit for which the organization should refer to the relevant guidelines as mentioned in ISO 19011 Standard and take appropriate steps to provide appropriate training to personnel selected as auditors for internal audit.