Which of the following actions would you consider appropriate when planning the internal audit of A’s quality management system?

You work for organisation A. You are asked to lead an internal audit of A’s quality management system. It has a head office in Plant A1 and a second Plant A2 nearby. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production in A2 was discontinued and it was rented to a logistics organisation B, not related to A. There are no A employees working in A2. Organisation A expects to reassume production in A2 as soon as possible.

Which of the following actions would you consider appropriate when planning the internal audit of A’s quality management system?

A. Visit Plant A2 to interview personnel of company B

B. Visit Plant A2 to interview B’s quality manager

C. Visit Plant A2 to interview A’s security personnel and B’s maintenance department

D. Interview the A2 plant manager, now working in Plant A1

View Answer

Answer: D

Explanation:

In this scenario, the organisation A has two plants, A1 and A2, but the production in A2 was discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the plant was rented to another organisation B. There are no A employees working in A2, and the organisation A expects to reassume production in A2 as soon as possible.

Therefore, the appropriate action to plan the internal audit of A’s quality management system is:

• Interview the A2 plant manager, now working in Plant A1: This action involves interviewing the person who is responsible for the management and operation of the plant A2, and who is currently working in the plant A1. The interview should aim to gather information about the status and condition of the plant A2, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality management system, the arrangements and agreements with the organisation B, and the plans and actions to resume production in the plant A25. This action is relevant and necessary for the internal audit, as it can help to assess the readiness and effectiveness of the quality management system, and to identify any gaps or nonconformities that need to be addressed.

The other options are not appropriate actions to plan the internal audit of A’s quality management system, according to the web search results from my internal tool.

They are:

• Visit Plant A2 to interview personnel of company B: This action involves visiting the plant A2 and interviewing the personnel of the organisation B, who are not related to the organisation A and who are not part of the quality management system. This action is irrelevant and unnecessary for the internal audit, as it can not provide any evidence or information about the conformity and improvement of the quality management system of the organisation A5.

• Visit Plant A2 to interview B’s quality manager: This action involves visiting the plant A2 and interviewing the quality manager of the organisation B, who is not related to the organisation A and who is not part of the quality management system. This action is irrelevant and unnecessary for the internal audit, as it can not provide any evidence or information about the conformity and improvement of the quality management system of the organisation A5.

• Visit Plant A2 to interview A’s security personnel and B’s maintenance department: This action involves visiting the plant A2 and interviewing the security personnel of the organisation A and the maintenance department of the organisation B, who are not directly involved in the quality management system. This action is irrelevant and unnecessary for the internal audit, as it can not provide any evidence or information about the conformity and improvement of the quality management system of the organisation A5.

Therefore, the correct answer is D.

Reference:

1: Quality audit – Wikipedia

2: A step-by-step guide to internal quality audits

3: ISO 9001:2015 – Quality management systems ― Requirements

4: ISO 19011:2018 – Guidelines for auditing management systems

5: Audit Process | Flowchart | Summary – Accountinguide: What are the Stages of the Auditing Process & Why it is Important …