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Procedure · SOP-03

Internal Audit

Planning, conducting, reporting and following up internal audits of the management system and technical activities.

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Purpose

To define how the Laboratory plans, performs, reports and follows up internal audits so that top management obtains objective evidence of whether the management system conforms to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and to the Laboratory's own requirements, and whether it is effectively implemented and maintained.

What is inside

11 sections, about 4 pages when printed.

  1. 1. Purpose
  2. 2. Scope
  3. 3. References
  4. 4. Definitions
  5. 5. Responsibilities
  6. 6. Process overview
  7. 7. Procedure
  8. Records generated by this procedure
  9. Monitoring and performance indicators
  10. Assessment readiness notes
  11. Related documents

Records it generates

Applying this procedure produces the following records, which are the evidence an assessor samples.

  • –Annual audit programme and individual audit plans
  • –Completed audit checklists with sampled evidence
  • –Finding and nonconformity reports with closure evidence
  • –Audit summary reports and management review extracts
  • –Auditor training and authorisation

What an assessor looks for

The document closes with these points, so you can check your own practice before someone else does.

  • –Whether the programme demonstrably covers every clause, every discipline and every location in 12 months, and whether it was completed.
  • –Whether auditors are trained, authorised and independent of the work audited.
  • –Whether audits produced findings: an audit programme with no findings over a year is treated as an indicator of ineffective auditing.
  • –Whether findings were classified, root-caused, actioned and verified for effectiveness, not merely corrected.
  • –Whether vertical and witness audits were performed, with the specific jobs and people recorded.

Before you use it

  • Replace every square-bracket token, starting with [LABORATORY NAME], [ADDRESS] and [EFFECTIVE DATE]. The full token list is in GD-01 Read Me First.
  • Have the content technically reviewed against how your laboratory actually works, then approved by the responsible manager before it becomes a controlled document.
  • Update the Word fields after editing so the table of contents and page numbers are correct: select all, then press F9.
  • Record the document in your own document register and set its review date.
  • Delete the assessment readiness notes if you do not want them in your controlled version; they are guidance for you, not requirements.

Related documents

This is an original template published by ValiTrac. It does not reproduce the text of ISO/IEC 17025 or of any accreditation body publication, and it does not by itself confer or guarantee accreditation. Customise, review and approve it before use.