The internal audit work of inspection and testing institutions/laboratories plays an important role. In the internal audit work, it is necessary to clarify the main points, carry out the work according to the requirements, and also improve the management requirements, fully guarantee the effect of internal audit and inspection, and strengthen the quality of work.
1. Definition and principles of laboratory internal audit
1. Definition
The internal audit is a first-party audit, mainly to standardize the quality management of the laboratory, improve the technical level, improve the quality management system, strengthen the standardization of management, and correct the quality management problems of the laboratory according to the situation of the laboratory.
Internal audit is special and can find problems in laboratory quality management. Therefore, carrying out internal audit work can play a supervisory role, so that the laboratory's work can be carried out smoothly.
2. Principles
The internal audit has particularity and should be conducted in a standardized manner according to the establishment of the Accreditation Committee. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the audit, the audit should be carried out in accordance with the four core principles of independence, objectivity, norms and system.
Internal auditors should strictly abide by professional norms and conduct objective evaluation of audit work.
The audit work needs to be carried out in a systematic way, with corresponding plans formulated and output after the audit to make the audit systematic and enhance the credibility of the audit.
At the same time, the internal audit needs to be reviewed in detail according to the corresponding plan and the pre-prepared checklist, and the on-site audit is carried out after the documents are reviewed.
2. Elements of Internal Audit
1. Personnel review
The inspection in the testing laboratory should deal with:
The ability of personnel is clarified, and the qualifications and business capabilities of agency personnel are reviewed to ensure that the qualifications of personnel meet the actual work requirements;
It is also necessary to check whether the personnel in each position are tested in accordance with the specifications, and check the matching between the ability of the management personnel and technical personnel and the position;
And check whether the management and technical personnel set up by the verification agency meet the requirements of the system documents.
2. Audit of equipment
During the internal audit, laboratory instruments and equipment should also be checked, and the check should include:
The equipment, software, and corresponding measurement standards, reference materials, reference data, consumables, auxiliary equipment, etc. required for the test; the non-personnel and environmental functional elements that affect the test results are inspected.
During the verification process, it is necessary to judge the state of the equipment before it is purchased and put into use, analyze whether the use process meets the requirements, and judge whether the corresponding maintenance work has been carried out.
3. Review of records and reports
During the internal audit process, records and reports should be checked to ensure that the records provided can be identified, analyzed and traced.
When checking the records, it is necessary to judge their completeness, which should include samples, environment, reagents and test solutions, instruments and equipment, operating procedures, data processing, etc.
The originality and authenticity of the records should also be checked. For the test report, its completeness, accuracy and traceability should be checked to make the report authoritative and referable.
3. Main points of internal audit
1. Ensure the integrity of all processes
First of all, a detailed plan should be formulated before the internal audit, and documents for recording audit data should be made in light of the actual situation, so as to facilitate the development of the work.
Secondly, due to the large variety of samples, the methods and processes of testing and internal auditing are relatively complicated, and the process needs to be formulated and adjusted in detail.
Finally, after the internal audit is completed, the corresponding data should be recorded in time, and the audit materials should be sorted out so that they can be easily searched for later use.
Therefore, in order to avoid problems in the audit, the work content of each link should be clarified so that the internal audit can be completed smoothly.
2. Improve the ability of staff
The internal audit work is directly related to the professionalism of the personnel. The personnel who carry out the internal audit work of the quality management system should have professional capabilities and hold corresponding certificates. It should also enrich its own experience and conduct detection more efficiently and accurately in the work.
First of all, personnel should have rich inspection experience, understand the inspection methods of different types of samples, and be able to use them correctly. Secondly, auditors should have corresponding management experience and have an in-depth understanding of the audit work.
When there is a lack of corresponding experience, it is necessary to provide training to improve the professional ability of the personnel so that the audit work can be carried out smoothly.
Finally, internal auditors should have a strong sense of responsibility, have a strong understanding of new laws and regulations (standards), be able to continuously improve their capabilities, and strengthen the quality of testing work.
3. Pay attention to the influencing factors in the process of internal audit
The internal audit work includes audit and testing. The testing agency uses the quality supervision mechanism to manage. In order to strengthen the effect of the internal audit work, it should have the support of relevant management agencies. A corresponding quality management mechanism should also be established to conduct self-inspection in daily work.
However, internal audit work is based on discovering and solving problems in the management mechanism. Therefore, we should fully understand the continuous characteristics of internal audit and grasp various factors in it.
The management department should pay attention to and implement all aspects of the internal audit work, so that the internal audit work can achieve better results, and then improve the testing level, and bring guarantees for the internal audit of the laboratory.
Four. Conclusion
The inspection and testing laboratory is an important place for inspection. Effective internal audit of the laboratory can ensure the reliability of the inspection work, make the inspection more accurate and efficient, and guarantee the operation of the management system.
In the internal audit work, it is necessary to ensure the integrity of all processes, improve the ability of staff, and pay attention to the influencing factors in the process of internal audit, so that the internal audit work can be carried out smoothly.
By improving the level of internal audit and inspection, better conditions can be provided for the inspection and testing work, thereby reflecting the authority of inspection and testing and bringing better help to the management of the organization.