ABSTRACT
ISO 19011 is one of those standards that can be thought of as existing in theoverall ISO 9000 family (it is also part of another family but that still fits theimage – two standards were married together to create this one and we usually accept that marriage results in membership of more than one family). The standard is entitled ‘’Guidelines for quality and/or environmental systems auditing’. It is intended to provide a general description of how audits of all types – first, second and third party – should be carried out when auditing quality or environmental management systems. It is based on the understanding that the basic approach to both quality and environmental audits is essentially the same. Certainly the framework and underlying rules for how to audit are similar. Each involves selection and qualification of auditors, planning, preparation, introduction, execution, analysis, reporting and corrective/improvement action. The specific things that are being looked for in an audit are quite different, so I have reservations about combining the actual audits, but to have a common central approach to the two seems very sensible and can make planning and scheduling, for example, much more efficient.
