ANAB Webinar: Internal Auditing Practices for Forensic Service Providers

Описание: This free ANAB webinar is presented by Deanne Emory, ANAB’s Instructional Designer. Brad Putnam, the Senior Director of Accreditation for Forensics answers questions at the end of the Webinar.

Key Takeaways from this ANAB Forensic Webinar
-Learn how to plan and conduct internal audits based on risk.
-Understand the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ANAB AR 3125 requirements related to internal audits
-Develop audit plans based on the laboratory’s scope, size and needs
-Learn practices to more efficiently add direct observation of technical work (or witnessing) to the organization’s internal audit program

The presenter began by outlining auditor requirements, specifically 8.8 Internal Audits. ISO/IEC 17025 states that internal audits need to be conducted over planned intervals. The ANAB AR 3125 document states that internal audits should be conducted annually and prior to a laboratory’s initial assessment.

This means that laboratories must be audited at least annually. Auditing is conducted through Clauses 4-8 of ISO/IEC 17025.

You can find more information in ANAB’s other webinar, Using Internal Audits for Process Improvement, which more thoroughly goes through the requirements of Clause 8.8 of ISO/IEC 17025:    • ANAB Webinar: Using Internal Audits for Pr...  

AR 3125 further states that Internal audits shall include direct observation of a portion of accredited activities within each discipline. The webinar presenter breaks this down, outlining what is direct observation or witnessing and showing how witnessing, planned intervals, management systems, and standards requirements fit together. Risk based thinking helps make this all happen.

ISO standards are shifting to risk-based thinking and are less prescriptive in general. This is discussed in the video. A risk-based approach to scheduling audits is discussed, along with several relevant examples, such as frequency of nonconforming work, number of personnel, customer complaints, personnel turnover, changes in external or internal issues, and changes to the volume or type of work.

The webinar then goes through the audit process itself, specifically the types of audits, including management system audits vs technical operations audits and horizontal vs vertical audits.

Much of the webinar is then spent on the auditing process for an example laboratory, intended to inform any viewers on how to implement the requirements discussed in the webinar. This is broken down with an example witnessing planning matrix.

The presenter then moves onto moving onto setting audit objectives, using the SMART model for setting goals. The scope of each audit needs to be consistent with the audit program and the audit objectives.

The presenter ends by discussing opportunities to combine some activities in witnessing and auditing activities.

At the end of this webinar, questions were asked and answered by the presenters. These included:

What are your thoughts on witnessing in a nontechnical capacity?
Do we have to use a witnessing plan matrix?

What would be the best way and necessary way that an auditor documents the witnessing to maintain the documentation for an internal audit?

With the redefinition of some SI units in 2019 based on fundamental constants, is it still valid to reference the international prototype of the kilogram in calibration certificates for metrological traceability?

How to select internal auditors and what kind of training do they need to have?

Would you suggest or require all methods be scheduled to be observed within an accreditation cycle, even if a given method is low risk?

Our lab only has 3 people. Would we all be internal auditors?

Will labs get a nonconformity in our assessment if they don’t do witnessing?
Could you give examples of acceptable evidence against a requirement of monitoring the ongoing risk to impartiality?

Is there a requirement to be trained by ANAB to serve as a contracted internal auditor to ISO/IEC 17020?

Can internal audits completed by external contractors satisfy the annual internal audit requirements?

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