Requirements for Internal Audit Training for BRC Std Issue 8
My company is preparing for a full BRC audit next year, and I have a question about the internal auditor training requirement. The wording is very vague, only that some type of formal training is required for each member of the audit team. Since no one here has had training of this type, I plan to take a course and then teach it to my team. In researching the options out there, I am finding everything from a 1.5 hour to a 2 day course. I feel that a longer course would be more beneficial, but how can I explain the advantages to my management team, being that the more lengthy ones are more costly. Thank you all!! Mary
I took a 2 day course from Eurofins over Internal Auditing. It was very thorough and came with a workbook which included all of the slides from the presentations and the hands on activities performed during the course. You also get a certificate of completion. You could propose a class like that as being advantageous because you walk away with not only training for yourself, but also training materials that you can use to train the staff you want involved with internal audits. Essentially, it's a two for one deal.
Internal auditors should be well equipped with both professional knowledge and auditing skills. At first, BRC Auditor mostly will look on the latter, e.g. ISO 19011 training. If he has time, he will check (by interview or certificate or diploma) internal auditors' knowledge of processes they have audited, such as HACCP principle, cooking control, packaging techniques, quality management, etc.
The 2-day course is most likely what your auditor will be looking for, it was what ours required and we just had our first audit in February.
I recommend taking one that is more geared towards BRCGS vs a general IA training. I would be surprised if your auditor would even accept the 1.5 hour course. Explain to your management that not only will the longer course be more beneficial knowledge wise for you, but the investment will also count towards 1.1 Management Commitment and you can present this to the auditor as evidence of that. Also, ask management if it is worth risking a NC for the shorter course...
Mary,
I have used this course out of the UK for many years. I have all our internal auditors take this course. It's inexpensive,
they can do it at their own pace, it follows the BRC guidelines and they send you a certificate of completion once the
final exam has been graded. Hope this helps.
I am glad that you are looking at training and development of the internal audits. Internal audits and GMP/fabrication audits remain one of the most common non-conformities identified in BRCGS audits (regularly appearing in the top 10 most common non-conformities).
Ideally there are 2 aspects that internal auditors need:
- auditing skills, including how to design a comprehensive audit programme, how to complete audits, auditing techniques, soft skills used in auditing, etc.
- some understanding of the activity they will be auditing (an in-depth knowledge is not required, but a basic understanding is useful. It wont be a very good audit, if for example, the first question the auditor needs to ask is 'whats a HACCP plan?')
BRCGS run a full length internal auditing course that covers all the requirements of the Standard.
John.
https://www.allsafe....t=0&sort=normal
Mary,
I have used this course out of the UK for many years. I have all our internal auditors take this course. It's inexpensive,
they can do it at their own pace, it follows the BRC guidelines and they send you a certificate of completion once the
final exam has been graded. Hope this helps.
We have also used the above course which was accepted by our auditor.
Thank you all very much for your responses-I really appreciate your help and guidance!