New ISO 19011 standard adds value to management system audits

ISO has published an updated edition of the ISO 19011 auditing standard which will save money, time and resources by providing a uniform approach to multiple management system audits.

In today's business environment many organisations incorporate a number of management systems, such as quality, environmental, IT services and information security. As a result, these organisations want to harmonise and, where possible, combine the auditing of these systems.

Compared to the first edition of the standard published in 2002 which applied only to ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment), the scope of ISO 19011:2011, Guidelines for auditing management systems, has been expanded to reflect current thinking and the complexities of auditing multiple management system standards (MSS). The latest version is now available at the SLSI (Sri Lanka Standards Institution) which is the only member body of ISO in Sri Lanka.

It will help organisations to optimise and facilitate the integration of their management systems and, in facilitating a single audit of its systems, will streamline the audit processes, reduce duplication of effort and decrease disruption of work units being audited.

Specific attention is given to the implementation of the audit program. By fully applying these guidelines, the prerequisites are provided to make auditing a crucial tool for top management to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

ISO 19011:2011 provides guidance on the conduct of internal or external management system audits, as well as on the management of audit programmes.