Like the rest of the community, COVID-19 is disrupting the certification sector, particularly audit schedules for achieving and maintaining certification to ISO management system standards.
Auditors are being prevented from travelling in many countries and many companies are closed anyway. To ensure as much flexibility as possible and ensure clients’ continued certification, TQCSI is liaising with our clients to defer audits a few months until some normalcy can return.
However, if all audits are postponed till the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year, there will not be enough auditors available for the number of outstanding audits! Moreover, in some countries different regions may allow companies to work but auditors may be prevented from travelling to those clients.
In these circumstances, TQCSI can audit remotely using various information and communication technology (ICT) techniques that are readily available to most businesses such as telephone, mobile phones, photography by mobile, access to intranets, teleconference meetings, MS Teams, Skype, GoToMeetings and Zoom, etc.
TQCSI is accredited by JAS-ANZ to conduct remote auditing and has been doing so for the past few weeks.
So certification of your management systems to the ISO Standards need not be jeopardised by the Coronavirus and you can focus on more pressing issues.
Read the open letter from Craig Bates, President of TQCSI, to clients and partners regarding COVID-19 and remote auditing here:
Covid 19 Response letter - TQCSI