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.
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which statement related to the last paragraph of scenario 2 is correct?
'XYZ' has already sent to you a list with all documented procedures and work instructions related to the services provided to 'ABC' (a quality manual is not included in the list).
To complete the audit planning which additional information would you ask to XYZ to submit? Select four.
Whistiekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organisation 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 organisation. The deaning equipment needs replacing but the organisation cannot afford it now. You learn that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the claims based on 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.
Match the ISO 9001 Clauses to the statements.
During a third-party audit of a pharmaceutical organisation (CD9000) site of seven COVID-19 testing laboratories in various terminals at
a major international airport, you interview the CD 9000's General Manager (GM), who was accompanied by Jack, the legal compliance
expert. Jack is acting as the guide in the absence of the Technical Manager due to him contracting COVID-19.
You: "What external and internal issues have been identified that could affect CD9000 and its quality management system?"
GM: "Jack guided us on this. We identified issues like probable competition of another laboratory organisation in the airport, legal
requirements on COVID-19 continuously changing, the shortage of competent laboratory analysists, the epidemic declining soon,
shortage of chemicals for the analysis. It was quite a good experience."
You: "Did you document these issues?"
GM: "No. Jack said that ISO 9001 does not require us to document these issues."
You: "How did you determine the risks associated with the issues and did you plan actions to address them?"
GM: "I am not sure. The Technical Manager is responsible for this process. Jack may be able to answer this question in his absence."
Select two options for how you would respond to the General Manager's suggestion:
You are carrying out an annual surveillance audit at an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for two years. The organisation offers home cleaning services. The scope of the quality management system covers planning the weekly activities, providing cleaning materials, cleaning the whole property (including outdoor space) alarm installation, alarm servicing, alarm monitoring and response. The business operates from a single office and employs subcontract cleaners across the whole city.
You have just completed the opening meeting. You are interviewing the Managing Director (MD).
You: I would like to gain an understanding of how the quality management system has been supporting your business and its strategic direction.
MD: We are continuing to face difficult times. The market is extremely competitive, and customers typically look for the least expensive option when choosing home cleaning services. We have not yet seen any business benefit from our quality management system.
You: Tell me how you determine external and internal issues.
MD: We use PESTLE analysis (Political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental).
You: Why did you not use the SWOT model (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)?
MD: I had used PESTLE in my previous job.
You: How have the outputs from your PESTLE been used?
Select two audit trails which would lead to a determination of how the PESTLE analysis would affect the planning of a QMS to ISO 9001.
What is a list of actions that should be performed during the audit with their respective timeline?
XYZ Corporation is an organisation that employs 100 people. As the audit team leader, you conduct a certification audit at Stage 1. When reviewing the quality management system (QMS), you find that the objectives have been defined by an external consultant using those of a competitor, but nothing is documented. 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.
Which two options describe the circumstances in which you could raise a nonconformity against clause 6.2 of ISO 9001?
You are conducting an ISO 9001 audit of a Materials Recycling Facility. The organisation processes
waste plastics into raw materials 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. Match the following
statements to the correct ISO 9001 standard clause shown.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so that it is
highlighted in red, and then click on the applicable text from the options below.
Alternatively, drag and drop each option to the appropriate blank section.
Takitup is a small fabrication company that manufactures steel fencing, stairs, and platforms for the construction sector. It has been certified to ISO 9001 for some time and has appointed a new Quality Manager. The audit plan during a surveillance audit covers the company’s improvement actions and the auditor asks to see the most recent management review meeting minutes.
Which three statements would represent input audit evidence for the management review?
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.
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?
Read the following role descriptions. Select two roles that are not directly involved in the audit process.
Noitol is an organisation specialising in the design and production of e-learning training materials for the insurance market. During an ISO 9001 audit of the development department, the auditor asks the Head of Development about the process used for validation of the final course design. She states that they usually ask customers to validate the product with volunteers. She says that the feedback received often leads to key improvements.
The auditor samples the design records for a recently completed course for the 247 Insurance organisation. Design verification was carried out but there was no validation report. The Head of Development advises that this customer required the product on an urgent basis, so the validation stage was omitted. When asked, the Head estimates that this occurs about 50% of the time. She confirms that they always ask for feedback and often make changes. There is no record of feedback in the design file for the course.
The auditor decides to review the training course design process in more depth.
Select three options that provide a meaningful audit trail for this process.
ABC is a worldwide fast-food organisation. One of the branches, in downtown Cape Town, decided to
implement an ISO 9001 quality management system and you are the audit team leader (with two other
auditors) that will carry out the certification audits, Stage 2.
ABC receive the orders by phone or internet; some of the employees deliver the ordered food to indicated
addresses. The normal menu includes 15 different types of hamburgers; however, in the last two weeks,
due to a shortage of a special type of meat, they can only prepare six of the 15 varieties.
During the internal meeting of the audit team, you ask one of the auditors to describe what she has
observed. She audited the reception of orders from customers (via phone or internet) and the
communication of the orders to the kitchen. She noticed that the menu offering food on the website is still
the normal one, with 15 different hamburgers, and during a 30-minute period, she observed many
customers reluctantly accepting something other than the hamburger they preferred.
You, as audit team leader, inform the Quality Manager of your concern about the major nonconformity,
since you consider this a serious breach of the basic principles of quality that lasted two weeks without
action being taken.
Right at the beginning of the Closing meeting, you discuss the nonconformity with the General Manager.
She got quite upset and said she was going to make a complaint to the certification body and left the
room; the Quality Manager was the only member of ABC left with the audit team. The Quality Manager said the General Manager would not come back to the meeting.
What would you do? Choose the best from the following options:
Among others, what does Clause 4.4 (Quality Management System and Its Processes) of ISO 9001 require from organizations?
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?"
In relation to the auditor's question about how the change was managed, the auditee mentions the steps
listed below. Match the ISO 9001 clauses to the steps.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then
click on the ISO 9001 clauses listed below. Alternatively, drag and drop each clause to show which step the
requirement applies to.
(In the context of a second-party quality management system audit, select the two correct statements from the following:)
ABC is a fast food shop that receives orders by phone or the internet. The normal menu includes 15 different types of hamburgers; however, in the
last two days, due to a shortage of a special type of meat, they can only prepare six of the 15 varieties.
You are performing a third-party audit of ABC; you observed that the menu offering food on the website is still the normal one, with 15 different
hamburgers. During a 30-minute period, you observed several customers reluctantly accepting other than the hamburger they preferred. You decided
to raise the following nonconformity as follows:
"There is evidence that ABC has not reviewed the ability to provide customers the offered products".
The restaurant manager does not accept the nonconformity. She says that ABC had an extensive training programme for all personnel, which you have already seen when auditing Human Resources. This shortage of some hamburgers cannot be considered a management system failure.
Which one would be your answer from the following options?
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.
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.
You are the supervisor in Production of a medium size manufacturing organisation. You are qualified as an internal auditor. The Quality Manager asks you to lead the next internal audit of Production and Logistics Dispatch. The audit team includes two other internal auditors.
You are conducting a third-party audit to ISO 9001 and the next item on your audit plan is 'internal auditing'.
When reviewing a sample of audit records up to 5 years previously, you find that many contain non-conformance reports and no actions have been taken. You interview the Quality Manager.
You: "I have noted that many of the older files contain non-conformances that have not had any corrective action taken."
Quality Manager: "Because the business is always changing, the departmental managers tell me that the non-conformances are no longer applicable. I made a decision that any non-conformance over 3 years old is automatically closed"
You: "Do you obtain any confirmation beforehand from the appropriate departments that the non-conformances are no longer applicable."
Quality Manager: " No, because they are so old I consider that they are no longer appropriate. Please remember that we take a risk-based approach which means we audit where and when it is considered important to do so.
Select one course of action you would now take from the options.
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.
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 auditing a manufacturer of specialty tea products during a Stage 2 certification audit. In the quality laboratory, you interview one of three operatives conducting sensory testing of a batch from the production line.
Select three options of evidence which could demonstrate conformance with clause 9.1.1 of ISO 9001:2015.
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 'finished' product of 9.7% needs improvement as it doesn't meet the stated objective of top management of 5%."
Just before the Closing meeting of a third-party audit, the audit team leader is invited to a meeting with the Quality Manager. He tells
the audit team leader that a member of the audit team was seen taking photographs of the factory on his phone during the day and
wants him suspended from the Closing meeting with any nonconformities raised by him rescinded. The issue of photographs was not
discussed during the opening meeting.
Select the three options for how the audit team leader might deal with this situation.
What must the auditor consider in order to mitigate audit risks and obtain reasonable assurance?
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?
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?
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:
According to Scenario 6, the audit team required DC’s top management to submit corrective action plans within two weeks. Is this action acceptable?
Match each of the following statements into the table below to show whether they apply to first-party audits, second-party audits or third-party audits:
Which of the following subjects should an auditor discuss when communicating with the auditee’s top management?
You work as an external quality consultant for an organisation, “ABC”, which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other auditors) to audit an external provider, “XYZ”, which provides packaging materials to “ABC”. It is 4 pm, and the closing meeting was scheduled for 5 pm.
You, as the audit team leader, audited Top Management. You explain to the audit team that you identified two non-conformities:
a. There is no documented information on the results of 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).
All agreed to present these two non-conformities, graded as major.
As the audit team leader, select the best option on how to handle the closing meeting.
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 are carrying out an audit to ISO 9001 at an organisation which offers regulatory consultancy services to manufacturers of cosmetics.
You are interviewing the Technical Director (TD), who manages a team of regulatory experts responsible for providing regulatory services to customers.
You: "How do you ensure your regulatory team's competence concerning regulatory requirements is maintained?"
TD: "The two Regulatory Experts we employ full-time have years of experience of working in the cosmetics industry."
You: "How is their regulatory competence maintained?"
TD: "They are dedicated individuals with lots of contacts in the sector."
You: "How does the business enable them to maintain their understanding of current regulatory requirements?"
TD: "We leave that up to them."
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.
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 two statements that apply to the term
`nonconformity'.
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?
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?
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?
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:
A Health Trust has contracted with Servitup, a catering services organisation that has been certified to ISO 9001 for one year. It provides services to
10 small rural hospitals in remote locations involving the purchase and storage of dry goods and fresh produce, preparing meals, and loading heated
trolleys for Ward Service by hospital staff. You, as auditor, are conducting the first surveillance audit at one site with the Deputy Catering Manager
(DCM).
DCM: "I apologise for the absence of the Catering Manager. He has called in sick today and we are really short of staff."
You: "I see. It really shouldn't affect the QMS so the audit can progress as normal."
DCM: "The Catering Manager set up the system. I'm afraid I'm not as familiar with it as he is."
You: "OK, let's start with the Quality Policy. What are the main issues for the QMS here?"
DCM: "Give me a minute. I need to look at the Quality Policy on the noticeboard in his office."
As the audit progresses, it is clear that the DCM has a very low knowledge of the QMS. He continually has to look up the answers to your questions
or ask staff members about their processes. You decide to raise a nonconformity.
Select one of the following options that best describes the nonconformity.
In the context of a second-party audit, match the activity with the party responsible for conducting it.
The certification body has not been able to verify the implementation of corrective actions for any identified major nonconformity within six months after the last day of the Stage 2 audit. What must the certification body do in this case?
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.
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Scenario 1 indicates that AL-TAX did not ensure clear and open communication channels with interested parties. Which quality management principle did the organization not follow in this case?
How can an organization ensure the objectivity and impartiality of the internal audit function?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation 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.
The following are stages of an audit, put them in the order they would be conducted.
During a second-party audit of a dairy farm (by a potential customer) complying with ISO 9001:2015, the auditor verifies that there is large variability in the daily production of the milking yard. The current agreement with their only customer is to provide 2,000 litres per day. However, in the last two years, they have noticed an increasing variability in daily production.
If they produce less than 2,000 litres, they are penalised with a fine of 1.5 pesos for every litre that they do not provide. If they produce more than 2,000 litres, they use the extra milk to feed the pigs.
This process has been in operation for decades. The dairy farm was founded by the grandfather of the current owners, who did not want to alter the established practices.
The auditor raises a nonconformity on the basis that the process is not under control (Clause 8.1).
If you had been the auditor, which one of the following actions would you have accepted?
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Which of the following misconceptions about ISO 9001 was present in scenario 1?
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?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers warehousing and export services to customers. Customers are invoiced for the time stock items are stored in the warehouse. Transport to and from the warehouse is controlled by the organisation and approved subcontract transport services are used. The organization does not have its own transport vehicles. Stock items are not purchased by the organisation.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 Clause 8 extract to the audit evidence.
Which two of the following are the key expected results of a quality management system that conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015?
For a third-party, match the Activity with the Responsibility for conducting it.
To complete the non-conformity report, 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.
A small cleaning services organisation is about to start work on a hospital cleaning 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?
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which of the following indicates that Bell has defined its quality objectives?
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company's production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
"The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing."
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which situation presented in scenario 2 is NOT compliant with ISO 9001?
Will the auditee be subject to an audit follow-up if a minor nonconformity has been reported by the audit team leader in the audit conclusions?
"A set of interrelated or interlacing elements of an organization to establish policies and objectives, and processes to achieve those objectives" is the definition of a/an:
You are carrying out an annual audit at an organisation that offers home security services. You are interviewing the Quality Manager (QM)
You: "Would you tell me about your management review process?"
QM: "The senior management team plans to review the management system every six months. The review follows a set agenda and records are maintained."
You: "May I see the records from the last two management reviews?"
Narrative: The Quality Manager gives you the latest record, which shows the last management review took place nine months ago.
The Quality Manager then gives you the previous management review record, which took place one year before the latest review.
You: "Are there any other review reports in the last two years?
QM: "No, these are the only ones."
ISO 9001 |
TESTED 21 Feb 2026
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