18 Aug How to Become an ISO Lead Auditor?

If you are looking for a new job opportunity, becoming an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor (LA) will certainly help you. However, there are a few issues to consider before you apply for a QMS Lead Auditor course.

Which course provider to choose?

The first thing to consider while choosing an ISO Lead auditor course is to choose the one which is accepted worldwide.

Lead auditor certification courses are normally organized by accredited organizations like SGS, Lloyd, BV, DNV, etc.  Make sure that your certification body is not regional, whose certification is only valid in your country.

IRCA (International Register of Certificated Auditors) is the only organization providing globally accepted certification for ISO courses. So, first of all, you must find an organization like Gamma NDT Academy that runs ISO lead auditor courses under IRCA accreditation.

What does the Lead Auditor course look like?

The ISO Lead Auditor courses take five days. Courses are usually run in English, but also may be found in local languages, so you must check in which languages courses are run. If a course is delivered in a language other than your mother tongue, you should be able to speak and write in an efficient manner.

Courses comprise theoretical issues, discussions between delegates and between tutor and groups, personal workshops, continual assessment from a tutor on each delegate and written exam.  When you successfully pass the written exam you will be awarded the ISO 9001 certificate which, besides other information, displays your name and has an IRCA logo.

Lead Auditor Certification courses

Apart from ISO 9001 there are other certifications under ISO that are specific to certain areas.

ISO 9001 specifies international standards for a Quality Management System (QMS), which is used to ensure the ability of organizations to give products and services according to the regulatory requirements in their respective industry. The topics covered under ISO 9001 certification course includes reviewing and documenting the structure, responsibility, and process required to ensure quality management in an organization.

ISO 45001:2018 helps organizations to prevent work-related injuries and health hazards. It specifies regulations for occupational health and safety management system (OH&S). It’s primarily for ensuring safety in the working environment.

ISO 14001:2015 is for enhancing the environmental performance and it specifies the regulations for improving the environmental management system.

Gaining the Lead Auditor status

It is hard to find a job as a certificated lead auditor without practical experience, so you must find a way to get hands-on experience from the organization which is training you for ISO lead auditor exams. There are several ISO lead auditor training institutes that offer hands-on training experience.  Usually, it takes about 20 MD (man-days) as an observer on audits in order to gain the status of an auditor. During this stage, if you have positive recommendations from the auditor who observes you, you get a record from the certification body that states that you have the status of the auditor.

However, in this stage you are not allowed to organize and manage audits; you only maybe an audit team member. When you finish an additional 15 MD in the role of LA under supervision, where you organize and lead other auditors and audits, observed by some member of the audit team who is already an approved LA, then you became the Lead Auditor. During this time you must maintain an audit log that proves your audits (an example of an audit log may be downloaded from the IRCA website – www.IRCA.org). When you finish this stage, if you also are recommended by the auditor who supervised your work in this stage, you will receive a record from the certification body that states that you are now an LA.

The exact number of MD depends on the certification bodies, but usually follows ISO guidelines for the needed number of MD.

Job opportunities

Now, having your IRCA certificate for ISO 9001, record(s) from the certification body that confirms your status of auditor and Lead Auditor, and your personal logs from audits, you are a complete and competent ISO 9001 Lead Auditor.

At this moment you may seek a job opportunity in order to become a full-time employed auditor or to work as a subcontractor, from time to time, with some of the certification bodies. Why would you do something like this? Because that gives you an opportunity to earn money per day(s), to make important new contacts (almost 40% of each audit is realized with organizations’ top management), to see new approaches and technologies in a variety of industry segments, etc. Certification is still a growing business, especially in specific ISO and other standards – all of them are based on ISO 9001.

To conclude, bear in mind that this kind of personal certification provides you with new knowledge, builds up your personal competence and provides the possibility to have a new job opportunity or to get you extra money when working as a subcontractor. Who says that investing in yourself doesn’t pay?