What can I expect regarding grading in my audit?
I imagine every auditor is different but wanted to ask anyway-
Can anyone tell me what I can expect from non-conformances? What are minor non-conformances, what are major ones? How many non-conformances does it take to fail an audit? Is there a percentage grade to passing or failing or is it purely Pass/Fail? Is the amount of non-conformances fairly well spelled out or is it completely subjective to each auditor?
Just extremely nervous before our first audit to get our first SQF certification. Wish I had a better idea of how I am doing. I conduct internal audits, we've been preparing for this for two years. We are training as much as we can and have an SOP for every single point of our relevant modules. We failed our pre-assessment last year but mostly because the auditor told us to prepare for the wrong module of the SQF code.
Not quite understanding why you'd have an Auditor inform you as to which module to prepare.
Anyway, I am a former and one of first SQF Auditors in the US (switching hats after 4 years.)
If you wanted to know how you were doing, did your team conduct a gap analysis recently to ensure that you are ready or have a consultant come in or work remotely to conduct the same and provide consulting on any misses.
Your first audit in SQF is the desk audit, there is no grading, however it can generated corrective actions which you must get done.
Back in the day, there were a couple of people that thought the desk audit would be a great analysis for them, however that is not what the SQF desk audit is for. It's like a thermometer and if the Auditor sees just way too many issues they will stop, call their CB and discuss how to move forward - I had several with more than 50 corrective actions, it should not be that way and those were re-do's.
Are you having a pre-assessment this year? You really should whether internal as a team or external by bringing in someone or having someone do a full compliance analysis for you - I can't say us, because we are booked right now for remote reviews where we look over everything and even send the company a GoPro to do a 3-4 hour video for us.
If you will compare your system to the standards and find nothing failing and you have a good support from upper management and ownership, your facility is in a good shape and complies with the requirements of SQF I'd sit back and relax and let it roll.
As to differences in the grading as a minor, major, critical -- this way my rule of thumb and you find additional info on the grading definitions in the SQF 8.0 manual --j
Critical - won't happen on a desk audit unless you are missing something really big - Critial on a certification audit - a show stopper, wet slimmy mold hanging off the ceiling and falling into juice products on the line prior to packaging and no nobody cared... Critical - food safety hazard, seen/witness, I was there, makes me cringe now because I used to drink that juice. yuck.
Major - can lead to and probally will --- that mold on the ceiling, but not dripping down - but it will soon.
Minor - will not lead to a food safety hazard, etc - a simple paperwork error, one broom off the rack in production,
Fraud items/pencil whipping - it's an interesting call - could go major or critical, would not be minor -- I watched a group of young men roasting chickens and noticed they never checked the tempertures with their stick thermometers, why was that I stood there wondering and then I saw why... they had pre-filled their temperature out and simply wrote a new date on the top of the form each day - FRAUD -- their excuse to management was interesting - "Well, man, it's like this - they are the same all the time - the oven tells us the temperature - why check?:" Yes, you had to be there - that was a critical.
I imagine every auditor is different but wanted to ask anyway-
Can anyone tell me what I can expect from non-conformances? What are minor non-conformances, what are major ones? How many non-conformances does it take to fail an audit? Is there a percentage grade to passing or failing or is it purely Pass/Fail? Is the amount of non-conformances fairly well spelled out or is it completely subjective to each auditor?
Just extremely nervous before our first audit to get our first SQF certification. Wish I had a better idea of how I am doing. I conduct internal audits, we've been preparing for this for two years. We are training as much as we can and have an SOP for every single point of our relevant modules. We failed our pre-assessment last year but mostly because the auditor told us to prepare for the wrong module of the SQF code.
Hi Flototo,
See Manufacturing Code clause 2.11 et seq. It's all there.
I suggest you change yr CB.