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At the end of an initial third-party certification audit, the audit team enters the closing meeting room to hold the closing meeting. Only two people are present and waiting for them, the Health and Safety Supervisor and the Administrative Officer. Neither has participated in the audit. However, the team had previously agreed with the auditee Quality Manager on a major non-conformity.
They said:
Health and Safety Supervisor says: " Good evening. We are sorry to inform you that the General Manager was convened by the CEO of the organization to analyze an unexpected, very serious situation with the personnel.
The Administration Officer: " Concerning the major non-conformity, the General Manager called us on the phone asking us to tell you that he agrees with the non-conformity and that the correction will be taken this week, and the corrective action is to be implemented before the end of this month. He also asked us to tell you that it would be a pity to postpone the recommendation for certification due to this ongoing issue that can be solved so easily. Do you want me to describe to you what he told me he would do? "
Which one of the following would be the correct response (as team leader) to the General Manager ' s request?
You are leading a Stage 2 certification audit of a multi-site organisation and have received the audit schedule below;
Head Office and Site 1 – Day 1
Site 2 (150 km from HQ) – Days 2 and 3
During Day 1 of the audit, the client informs you that the laboratory at Site 2 has been closed for decontamination due to a serious outbreak of an infectious disease among workers. In Site 2, all other functions could be audited as planned.
As the audit team leader, what would you do?
Choose the best acceptable action you could take:
In the context of a third-party certification audit, match the roles with the following responsibilities:
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years.
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
A small deaning services organisation is about to start work on a hospital dleaning contract for the local Health Trust. You, as auditor, are conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 and review the contract with the Service Manager. The contract requires that a cleaning plan is produced. You: " How was the cleaning plan for the contract developed? " Service Manager: " We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and cleaning methods to be employed. Some of that is specified by the customer. " You: " How does the plan deal with locations like the intensive care wards and the operating theatres, which are included in the contract? " Service Manager: " The basic plan covers general wards, but we will do more frequent cleaning in those areas if the hospital requests it. " You: " Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for cleaning standards in hospitals? " Service Manager: " No. We depend on the hospital to look after that side of things in the contract. " You decide to raise a non-conformity against section 8.2.2.a.1 of ISO 9001. You decide to raise another non-conformity against section 8.2.4 of ISO 9001 when finding that the cleaning plan was amended without the agreement of the Health Trust. A different cleaning chemical was substituted to that specified in the contract. At the follow- up audit, the corrective action proposed was to " obtain a concession from the Health Trust for use of the new chemical. " Which one of the following options is the reason why you did not accept this action taken?
You are leading a team that is auditing a fruit juice manufacturer (ORANGE+), which markets its products in bottles of 0.5 and 1 litre. It is 4 pm, and the audit is close to an end; you are having an internal meeting with the team to decide what will be presented to the auditee during the closing meeting. The closing meeting was scheduled for 5 pm.
ORANGE+ has two manufacturing lines: M1 is a clean room for manufacturing and bottling the juices, and M2 is for packing and labelling the filled bottles in packets of 50 bottles each to be sent to retailers.
Auditor 1 audited the two manufacturing lines.
You: “What findings would you report?”
Auditor 1: “I have one issue. Earlier today, in the morning in M1, I observed a batch of ‘sugarless orange juice’ being filled into bottles with the label ‘standard orange juice’ on them.”
You: “How would you write the non-conformity?”
Auditor 1: “Some bottles from a batch of ‘sugarless orange juice’ were labelled as ‘standard orange juice’.”
What information would you add to this text to complete the non-conformity report? Select six.
Which two of the following work documents are not required for audit planning by an auditor conducting a certification audit?
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation that manufactures sacrificial anodes for the oil and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged steel structures. You, as one of the auditors, find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised the release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be Imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests very rarely fall below the required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
At the Closing meeting, the audit team leader presents the findings of the audit and comes to the above
nonconformity. The Quality Manager produces the test report for Project DK, which shows an acceptable galvanic efficiency, and presents an email from the customer confirming acceptance of the anodes. He asks that the nonconformity be withdrawn.
Which two of the following responses by the audit team leader would be acceptable?
You are conducting a third-party audit to ISO 9001 and interviewing the Training Manager. She explains that training is more
important than ever because the organisation has had to reduce the number of staff employed. Many of the remaining staff
are now required to be ' multi-skilled ' . You ask to see plans for the multi-skilling training and are shown plans that look
comprehensive, and include both ' on the job " training and internal and external training courses.
The records indicate that several staff required parts of their training to be repeated one month after the first training was
provided. You ask why this was needed and are told that an investigation of customer complaints identified that several staff
members did not complete certain tasks in the correct manner. The extra training was therefore recommended as a
corrective action.
Based on this interview, which two of the tollowing audit trails would be the most appropriate to follow?
Select the two most appropriate audit trails from the following.
Which of the following subjects should an auditor discuss when communicating with the auditee’s top management?
According to the ISO 9001 standard, which one of the following is a defined responsibility of top management?
You are conducting a Stage 1 audit at an organisation that services refrigeration equipment for a large customer base. The scope of certification is “Provision of refrigeration equipment maintenance and repair services”. You are interviewing the Managing Director to learn more about the organisation and to explore how the requirements for policy, objectives, and risks and opportunities in ISO 9001 are addressed.
The Managing Director explains that they only use sub-contract refrigeration engineers and do not have any full-time refrigeration engineers, which helps to optimise overhead costs. The full-time staff employed are essentially a small team of office staff who process customer enquiries, schedule jobs and process invoices.
The Managing Director adds that the ISO 9001 requirements for competence of personnel extends to both sub-contract and full-time staff. He also states that the full-time staff are aware of the Quality Policy, objectives and plans to address risk and opportunities.
You ask if the sub-contract engineers have been informed of the Quality Policy, objectives and plans to address risks and opportunities, to which the Managing Director replies that this is not applicable as they only use sub-contractors who operate ISO 9001 certificated quality management systems. The documented information provided to the auditor confirms this.
Which clause in ISO 9001 is most likely not to have been fulfilled in this instance?
In the context of a third-party audit, match the activity with the party responsible in relation to the audit process.
Auditor competence is a combination of knowledge and skills. Which two of the following activities are predominately related to ' knowledge ' ?
Scenario 6: Davis Clinic (DC) is an American medical center focused on integrated health care. Since its establishment DC was committed to providing qualitative services for its clients, which is the reason why the company decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After a year of having an active QMS in place, DC applied for a certification audit.
A team of five auditors, from a well-known certification body, was selected to conduct the audit. Eva was appointed as the audit team leader. After three days of auditing, the team gathered to review and examine their findings. They also discussed the audit findings with DC ' s top management and then drafted the audit conclusions.
In the closing meeting, which was held between the audit team and the top management of DC. Eva presented two nonconformities that were detected during the audit. Eva stated that the company did not retain documented information regarding its outsourced services for an analysis laboratory and regarding the conducted management reviews. During the closing meeting, the audit team required from DCs top management to come up with corrective action plans within two weeks. Although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team insisted that the auditee must submit corrective actions within the given time frame in order for the audit activities to continue.
Once the action plans were evaluated, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Eva required from the team to provide accurate descriptions of the audit findings and the audit conclusions. The report was then distributed to all the interested parties involved in the audit, including the certification body Based on the report, the certification body together with Eva, as the audit team leader, made the certification decision.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Scenario 6 indicates that although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Is this acceptable?
Scenario 7: POLKA is a car manufacturing company based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has around 14,000 employees working in different sectors which help with the design, painting, assembling, and test drives of the final product. The company is widely known for its qualitative products and affordable prices. In order to retain their reputation, POLKA implemented a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001.
Before applying for certification, the company decided to conduct an internal audit to check whether there are any nonconformities in their QMS and if the requirements of ISO 9001 are being fulfilled. The top management appointed Sean, the internal auditor, as the team leader of the internal audit team. Sean required from the top management to have unrestricted access to the employees and executives of POLKA and to the documented information. Furthermore, Sean required to establish a team with a large number of auditors, considering the size and the complexity of the organization. The top management of POLKA agreed with Sean ' s requirements.
The top management, in cooperation with Sean, assigned 10 more employees to the audit team. Following that. Sean planned the audit activities and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each auditor. They began by interviewing employees of different manufacturing departments to check whether they are aware of the process of the QMS implementation. While conducting these activities, one of the auditors asked Sean for permission to audit the department in which he worked on a daily basis, as he was very familiar with the processes of the department.
Along the way, the teams findings showed that the staff were trained, documented information was updated, and the QMS fulfilled the requirements of ISO 9001. The internal audit took three weeks to complete, and on the last week the audit team held a final meeting
The team shared their results and together drafted the audit report This report was submitted to the top management of the company. The report was maintained as documented information, and was available to the relevant interested parties.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Sean requested unrestricted access to the employees, executives, and documented information of POLKA. Is this in accordance with audit best practices?
In the context of a third-party certification audit, it is very important to have effective communication. Which is not the responsibility of the audit team leader?
During a second-party audit, the auditor examines the records that are available for the external provider, ABC Forgings, to whom manufacturing has recently been outsourced.
There are standard external provider checklists for three competitors for the contract and there are inspection records from the trial manufacturing batches produced by ABC Forgings. There is no documented evidence of the criteria used to confirm the appointment of ABC Forgings, and no contract or terms and conditions. Ongoing monitoring indicates that external provider performance is satisfactory, but no documented information has been retained.
Select two options for the evidence which demonstrates a nonconformity with clause 8.4 of ISO 9001.
You are conducting an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation which manufactures sacrificial anodes for the
oil and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged steel structures. As one of
the auditors, you find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the
anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised the
release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests rarely fall below the
required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
During the audit team meeting in preparation for the Closing meeting, the second auditor disagreed with the clause of ISO 9001 selected for the
above nonconformity. He thinks it should be clause 9.1.1.
Choose three options for how the audit team leader should best respond to the situation:
(When raising a non-conformity during an audit, which two of the following items should you include in the non-conformity statement?)
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
Which statement below represents the level of responsibility demonstrated by the audit team in scenario 3?
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
Scenario 4 mentions that Anne received a document that contained the audit scope, criteria, duration, and the limits to the audit engagement. What did Anne receive in this case?
ABC is a car washing company with 25 stations in the city. A national taxi chain (CAR XX) decided to audit ABC’s ISO 9001 management system.
You, as CAR XX audit team leader, are interviewing the ABC Quality Manager (QM) at their central office.
You: “How do you measure customer satisfaction?”
QM: “When we give the keys back to the owners, we always ask them two questions about their needs and expectations, and once per month, we discuss a summary of the answers to those questions and the complaints we receive in a box located in the waiting room.”
You: “Did you take any action based on these responses?”
QM: “We installed cameras to monitor the process and a coffee machine in the waiting room. These actions reduced the complaints by 90%.”
Based on the scenario, select which three statements are true:
One of the conflict resolution techniques is toning down. How is the conflict managed in that case?
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME ' s revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers ' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME ' s documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME ' s representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME ' s top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME ' s operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
Which stages of the audit were performed?
Which two of the following are included in the objectives of the ' Stage 1 initial certification audit ' ?
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You are interviewing the Training Manager (TM).
You: " What quality objectives apply to the training process? "
TM: " One of the quality objectives we aim for is a 90% minimum exam pass rate for all open training courses. "
You: " How do you measure this objective? "
The Training Manager shows you a record on her computer and you see the following:
Which two of the following statements are true?
An audit team leader arrives at a printing organisation to carry out a Stage 2 audit for a certification body. At a meeting with the Quality Manager, she is told that they have won their biggest contract from a computer
manufacturer to print and compile computer documentation packages. They have leased the unit next door for space reasons but have never worked in this sector before. The Quality Manager wants the ISO 9001
certificate to cover the new contract.
Which one of the options is the correct response by the auditor?
Which two of the following may be changed once a Stage 2 certification audit has commenced?
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organization with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality Manager tells you that those are the oldest shops in the organization. The cleaning equipment needs replacing, but the organization cannot afford it now. Complaining customers are offered a financial incentive to close the complaint.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
Select the one option which correctly describes the non-conformity to be raised against ISO 9001.
(A third-party audit has been planned at a single-site organisation. The audit team comprises one audit team leader, one auditor and one auditor who is undertaking his first third-party audit.
During the on-site audit, the auditor who is undertaking his first third-party audit shall...)
Which quality management principle does an organization fulfill when it assesses risks, consequences, and impacts before taking action?
(Select the six statements that are required as part of a second-party audit to ISO 9001 carried out by an organisation to a key supplier (ABC), taking into account recommendations from ISO 19011.)
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry company with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the company. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the company cannot afford it at the moment. You learn
that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the claims on the basis of the poor quality of the laundered materials.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
When reviewing the customer complaint file, you find that the organisation is facing a legal dispute with a customer over damage to an expensive cashmere coat.
Select the best option for how this should be handled by the Quality Management System.
XYZ Corporation is an organisation that employs 100 people. As audit team leader, you are conducting a
certification audit at Stage 1. When reviewing the quality management system (QMS) documentation, you
find that quality objectives have been set for every employee in the organisation except top management.
The Quality Manager complains that this has created a lot of resistance to the QMS, and the Chief Executive
is asking questions about how much it will cost. He asks for your opinion on whether this is the correct
method of setting objectives.
Three months after Stage 1, you return to XYZ Corporation to conduct a Stage 2 certification audit as Audit
Team Leader with one other auditor. You find that the Quality Manager has cancelled the previous quality
objectives for all employees and replaced them with a single objective for himself. This states that " The
Quality Manager will drive multiple improvements in the QMS in the next year " . The Quality Manager indicates
that this gives him the authority to issue instructions to department managers when quality improvement is
needed. He says that this approach has the full backing of senior management. He shows you the latest
Quality Improvement Request that was included in the last management review.
After further auditing, the issues below were found. Select three statements that apply to the term ' audit trail '
You are conducting an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined below. Match the ISO 9001 Clause 8 extract to the audit evidence.
An organisation wants to certify their ISO 9001:2015-based QMS for the first time. Arrange the activities in the correct sequence from 2 to 5.
To complete the sequence, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the applicable text from the options below. Alternatively, drag and drop the
options to the appropriate blank section.
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team after an agreement was reached. Is this acceptable?
ISO 9001 requires that the organisation shall continually improve the quality management system.
Select the two options for how this can best be achieved.
How can an organization ensure the objectivity and impartiality of the internal audit function?
You work as an external quality consultant for an organisation, ' A ' , which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other auditors) to audit a supplier, ' B ' , to ISO 9001 which provides packaging materials to your organisation. It is 4 pm and the audit is close to an end; you are having an internal meeting with the team to decide what will be presented to the auditee during the Closing meeting. The Closing meeting was scheduled at 5 pm.
You, as Audit Team Leader, audited top management. You explain to the audit team that you identified two nonconformities:
a. There is no documented information on Top Management Reviews, as required in clause 9.3 of ISO 9001:2015.
b. There is no evidence of Top Management Commitment as required in clause 5.1 of ISO 9001:2015. (e.g., not ensuring the availability of resources
to operate the QMS, not ensuring the establishment of objectives, no promotion of improvement, no promotion of the process approach).
All agreed to present these two nonconformities. They went to meet the Top Management of ' B ' and noticed that the General Manager and three other managers (Production, Human Resources, and Sales) were present in the meeting room.
Considering the seriousness of the two nonconformities to Top Management, as audit team leader, from the following select the best option:
(Which one of the following characteristics of documented information does not need to demonstrate conformity to the requirements of clause 7.5 of ISO 9001?)
You are a member of the audit team of a second-party audit of an organisation with 625 employees. The audit procedure recommends using sampling criteria which requires the review of the documented competence for 25 personnel. The audit team leader developed an audit plan allocating one hour to audit the Human Resources department (from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm). She told you that she could not allocate any additional time.
What would you do?
An internal auditor of a manufacturer of polystyrene packaging products for the electronics industry raised a nonconformity against section 10.3 of ISO 9001 in Report IA202. The nonconformity (NC 3) stated:
" The reject rate of the finished product of 9.7% needs improvement as it doesn ' t meet the stated objective of top management of 5%. "
As the third-party auditor reviewing the internal audit process, you come across the nonconformity. For corrective action, the Quality Manager conducted an investigation into the reject rates. He reported that the collection baskets for products ejecting from the moulding machines were not large enough. About 6% of products fell onto the wet and dirty factory floor. Management stated that replacing the baskets was too costly and ordered the Maintenance Manager to ensure that the floor was kept clean and dry to prevent rejects. The auditor later checked the factory floor, which was wet and dirty in places.
From the following nonconformities, select three that the auditor could raise to ISO 9001.
(In the context of a third-party certification audit, please identify the four management responsibilities of the audit team leader in managing the audit and the audit team:)
You are preparing an audit plan for a third-party ISO 9001 audit of organisation ABC that extracts lithium from mines in Bolivia.
ABC’s head office is in Lima, Peru, and it outsources all processes related to Production, Maintenance, Procurement and Human Resources to local Bolivian companies. ABC personnel manage in Bolivia only the Planning function.
Your plan starts in Lima, then you decide to go to Bolivia and fly back to Lima to audit the Quality Function and Top Management and conduct the closing meeting.
What would be your best decision when planning the audit in Bolivia?
The following list gives examples of records that may be evidence of how an organisation has fulfilled the requirements of clause 8.4 of ISO 9001. Match the records to the appropriate requirement of clause 8.4.
Knowledge and skills are requirements of the auditor ' s competence. Select two from the following topics of knowledge that apply to every member of an audit team auditing an ISO 9001 quality management system.
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
The audit team members were selected based on their knowledge of the legal and other regulations that TD is subject to. Is this acceptable?
(Select from the options which two of the following documented information examples are prepared by the auditor as a member of an audit team.)
You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies specialist laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: " I ' d like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a
business, say, over the last 12 months? "
Auditee: " We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our
own products in house. "
You: " That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that? "
Auditee: " We now mainly sell other manufacturers ' products, under their brand names, and have outsourced
manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers. Unfortunately, we had to make six members
of our staff redundant. This represents about 20% of our workforce, so this has been quite a challenging
time. "
You: " I ' m sure. What were the reasons for making the change? "
Auditee: " Our manufacturing section was a small operation, and we struggled to cope with fluctuations in
demand. During busy periods, we found it hard to meet lead times, and in quiet periods we had staff with
little to do. This was having an impact on customer satisfaction and meant we had to charge premium prices
that made our product uncompetitive. "
You: " How did you go about the change? "
The auditor asks to speak to the purchasing manager about the selection of the subcontractor to
manufacture the company ' s own brand products.
You: " How did you choose a supplier to manufacture your products? "
Auditee: " We have had a long-term relationship with a supplier ABC Ltd - we gave them our design
drawings, got them to complete a supplier questionnaire and run a couple of trial batches for us. We were
happy with the result and we have used them ever since. "
ISO 9001:2015, clause 8.4.1 outlines situations when controls need to be applied to externally provided processes, products and services. Which one of the following situations is applicable to this scenario?
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
Based on the last paragraph of scenario 3, which audit principle did the audit team follow?
The ISO 9001 clause 5.1.1 states top management shall demonstrate leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system.
In the context of the ISO 9001 management system certification, select the one correct description of top management ' s responsibilities.
During an internal audit, it was discovered that the calibration of a spectrometer used daily for production had expired, causing a nonconformance under Clause 7.1.5.2 of ISO 9001:2015. The root cause was the organization not considering the risk of the calibration provider leaving the country.
Which corrective action is the best one?
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry company with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer
complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality
Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the company. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the company cannot afford it at the moment. You learn
that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the claims on the basis of the poor quality of the laundered materials.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
You will lead a third-party audit next Monday on ABC, an organisation that provides services for cleaning windows from the outside of tall buildings. They work on demand, and usually have 4-5 orders per week. All documented information on these activities is kept at the central office.
On Friday evening, before the audit, you are informed by mail that customers cancelled all orders for the next week; therefore, the auditors will not have the chance to see them working at the customer ' s premises, but the field supervisors will be available at the ABC offices.
You have prepared the audit plan and the checklist. Choose the best action you would take:
At the end of a second-party audit, the audit team enters the meeting room to hold the closing meeting; only two people
are present and waiting for them: the Health and Safety supervisor and the administrative officer. Neither has participated in
the audit. However, the team had previously agreed with the auditee Quality Manager on two nonconformities identified
during the audit (NC1 and NC2).
They said:
Health and Safety supervisor: " Good evening. We are sorry to inform you that the general manager was involved in a
serious car accident, and the other two managers have had to leave urgently to attend to the emergency. "
Administration officer: " Our quality manager, before leaving, left a written message about ' NC2 ' . He declares that the
correction and corrective action have been already implemented and has attached some documents to the message as
evidence of these actions. Therefore, he expects that ' NC2 ' will not be included in the report. "
Which one of the following would be your preferred answer to the Quallty Manager ' s request?
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to
customers.
You are interviewing the Quality Systems Manager (QSM).
You: " What risks and opportunities have the business identified? "
QSM: " I ' 1l show you. This was discussed with the Managing Director at the latest management review. "
Narrative: The QSM shows you the latest management review record and points to the following table:
You: " How is the business planning to address these risks and opportunities? "
QSM: " The MD said that they already knew about them so it was not necessary. "
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation that manufactures sacrificial anodes for the oll and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged
steel structures. You, as one of the auditors, find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality
Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests very rarely fall below the required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
Which of the following options for the best description of the nonconformity?
You are auditing an organisation that has been certified to ISO 9001 for 10 years. The organisation is a privately owned, multi-site car tyre fitting company. You are auditing one of the sites.
You have confirmed with the Workshop Supervisor that tyre batch numbers shall be recorded in the Work Schedule. You have sampled recent Work Schedule records and written the following in your audit notes:
No batch numbers for tyres fitted to customers’ cars were recorded in the Work Schedule for job numbers 1/5, 1/16, 2/2, 2/7, 3/2, 3/5, 3/7 and 3/9. 15 jobs completed over the past five days were sampled. The Workshop Supervisor and the Tyre Fitter were aware of this missing information in the records, but no action had been taken.
You decide to raise a non-conformity.
An ISO 9001 certified organization sells packaged food. To maximize the benefits of third-party certification to the organization and stakeholders, the organization has labelled their product ' ISO 9001 certified product ' and is selling it as ' quality food ' .
Which TWO of the following describes this situation in the context of the purpose and benefits of third-party ISO 9001 certification?
The procedures of an organisation require that all purchase orders have to be signed by the Purchasing Manager, or, in her absence, by the Production Manager. During an audit carried out in November 2020, an auditor determined that during three weeks in February 2020, the purchase orders were not signed. You raise a nonconformance under Clause 8.4.3 of ISO 9001:2015.
Which one of the following answers would you accept as a ' correction ' from the Purchasing Manager?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers.
You are interviewing the Manufacturing Manager (MM).
You: " I would like to begin by looking at the cleaning controls. "
MM: " We record the cleaning of the equipment at the end of every batch. This document details the minimum cleaning frequency and the procedures to follow for all areas and each item of equipment. The person who carries out the cleaning puts their initial on the document and records the time and date alongside. "
Narrative: You sample production records over 3-days and note down evidence of nonconformity as per the table below.
During an ISO 9001 audit of an electric cable manufacturer, you are reviewing the customer file for XYZ Construction in the Sales Department. This contract specifies that the installation configuration of the cable runs should meet national fire safety standards for Category A.
You discover that the customer later agreed to the approval of a less stringent Category B configuration instead.
The organization has the following quality policy document displayed in the reception area.
" This organization is committed to providing electric cables to customers ' requirements, in accordance with statutory regulations for their use. Continual improvement is a permanent objective of the organization. This policy shall be communicated to all employees and, where required, to all interested parties. "
Referring to the scenario, select the two options for which the organization is meeting its policy commitments.
Scenario 6: Davis Clinic (DC) is an American medical center focused on integrated health care. Since its establishment DC was committed to providing qualitative services for its clients, which is the reason why the company decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After a year of having an active QMS in place, DC applied for a certification audit.
A team of five auditors, from a well-known certification body, was selected to conduct the audit. Eva was appointed as the audit team leader. After three days of auditing, the team gathered to review and examine their findings. They also discussed the audit findings with DC ' s top management and then drafted the audit conclusions.
In the closing meeting, which was held between the audit team and the top management of DC. Eva presented two nonconformities that were detected during the audit. Eva stated that the company did not retain documented information regarding its outsourced services for an analysis laboratory and regarding the conducted management reviews. During the closing meeting, the audit team required from DCs top management to come up with corrective action plans within two weeks. Although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team insisted that the auditee must submit corrective actions within the given time frame in order for the audit activities to continue.
Once the action plans were evaluated, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Eva required from the team to provide accurate descriptions of the audit findings and the audit conclusions. The report was then distributed to all the interested parties involved in the audit, including the certification body Based on the report, the certification body together with Eva, as the audit team leader, made the certification decision.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
The audit team delayed audit activities until DC’s top management submitted their action plans. Is this acceptable?
What is a list of actions that should be performed during the audit with their respective timeline?
For a third-party, match the Activity with the Responsibility for conducting it.
The following are stages of an audit, put them in the order they would be conducted.
Which one of the following options best describes the purpose of a Stage 1 third-party audit?
You are conducting an ISO 9001 audit of a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). The company
processes waste plastics into raw material for plastic bottle manufacturers. You reach the manual
picking line where operators are removing contaminant materials from incoming products, such as
plastic bags, plastic film and badly contaminated items that would compromise the recycling process.
You interview the line supervisor.
You: " Why are these plastic items being rejected at this stage? "
Auditee: " They do not meet our processing standards. "
You: " What is the reason for that? "
Auditee: " These items are likely to damage the machinery down the line. They can also
compromise our quality standards. We need to protect our reputation for good quality output
materials. "
You: " What happens to the rejected items? "
Auditee: " Some get melted down in another process later on and some are disposed of as waste
products that cannot be recycled. "
You: " What happens to the waste products? "
Auditee: " I ' m not sure. I suppose they go to landfill. "
After further auditing, you have gathered additional evidence.
TESTED 05 Jul 2026
