The one I see most is the internal audit that only checks whether documents exist. The auditor confirms the procedure is there and signed, but never follows a real job through the process to see whether anyone actually works that way. You end up with a clean report and the same nonconformity coming back at the certification audit six months later.
The other is closing corrective actions on the immediate fix. Someone retrains the operator, the action is closed, and nobody asks why the process allowed the error in the first place. What helps is asking the auditee to show you the evidence they use to run the process rather than the evidence they prepared for you. When I train new auditors I push them to plan by process and follow one order or one product all the way through, because that is where the gap between the written system and the real one shows up.
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Dilawar Laghari
Auditor, Consultant and Trainer
AuditWorkshop.com
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