Auditor competence, roles, responsibilities and ethical conduct
This domain tests the competence requirements in ISO 19011 clause 7 and ISO/IEC TS 17021-10, the roles inside an audit team, and the ethical lines an OH&S auditor must not cross.
Core rules and concepts
- ISO 19011 clause 7 requires generic competence (audit principles and methods, management system standards and their interaction, organisational context, applicable legal and other requirements), discipline and sector competence, and personal behavioural skills.
- For OH&S management systems, ISO/IEC TS 17021-10 adds: OH&S terminology, hazard identification and risk assessment methods, the hierarchy of controls, incident investigation, worker participation and the legal framework of the jurisdiction.
- Team leader competence includes managing the plan, resources and team performance, communicating with client and auditee, and producing the report. A team leader who cannot manage conflict is not competent for a multi-day audit.
- Roles: technical experts advise and do not audit; interpreters and observers are not auditors; guides facilitate access but must not answer on the auditee's behalf. Only auditors count toward team composition and audit time.
- Ethics: integrity, fair presentation, due professional care and confidentiality underpin independence. ISO/IEC 17021-1 bars certification body personnel from auditing an organisation to which they provided consultancy, typically within two years.
- Responsibilities: the client defines the need and receives the report; the auditee provides access and evidence; the auditor reports objectively and does not design the fix.
Worked example
An auditor spent two years as the client's safety manager and wrote its risk assessments. She must decline the assignment: independence is compromised and 17021-1 forbids auditing where consultancy was provided within the defined period. Adding a technical expert with no such history does not repair it, because the expert advises rather than audits, and the audit team would still be led by someone who wrote the system being judged.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing independence (no conflict of interest) with objectivity (state of mind).
- Letting the guide answer questions and recording that as auditee evidence.
- Counting a technical expert as an auditor in team composition or audit time.
- Treating confidentiality as optional when the auditee asks for a copy of the report.