The standards developed by bodies such as the British Standards Institute (BSI) and the International Standards Organisation (ISO), are subject to review about every 5 years.
Accreditation Bodies (for example, UKAS) publish guidelines on making the transition to the new version of the standard to assist Certification Bodies (and their certificated customers) on managing that transition including through the audit process.
The period allowed to make the transition is usually about three years because the Certification Body will need to review and amend its own policies, procedures and guidelines and auditors will need to undertake training so that audits can be completed under the new version of the standard.
Summary of actions required with regard to the transition from ISO 9001 : 2008 to ISO 9001 : 2015
ISO 9001 : 2015 incorporates major changes to bring it into line with other international standards and so it may require a company to review its management system and re-format or expand its infrastructure and resources in order to meet the requirements of the new standard.
Actions required will typically include:
- Completion of a gap analysis by customers to identify elements to be addressed to meet the requirements of the new standard.
- Development of an implementation.
- Identification of training needs and provision of training relevant to address such needs.
- Update of existing systems to meet revised requirements and verify effectiveness.
- Liaison with external resources in the certification chain to synchronise transition arrangements.
QAICL has undertaken a gap analysis of ISO 9001:2015 vs ISO 9001:2008 which was completed in December 2015.
QAICL’s systems were updated and new audit documentation was issued January 2016 so that audits to the new standard could commence from January 2016.
The management, staff and auditors of QAICL have undertaken a programme of training to the new standard which has been rolled out across the company. This should coincide with similar arrangements taken by most customers in order that all audit resources may be fully in place well before the due date of transition at 15th September 2018.
QAICL Auditors are now reviewing customer transition arrangements as part of the surveillance and re-certification process where requested by customers. This will become mandatory as time progresses and before the last cut-off date for transition of 15 September 2018.
Root Solutions