Avoid the hangover and the hump

It’s been three months since you were certified.  Do you still have that inner glow from a ‘job well done’?  You should.  But now you need to avoid any hangover and you definitely need to avoid the ‘hump’.

Some companies think that certification is a race.  You cross the finish line and dine on the success forever.  But the certification isn’t the end.  It is only the beginning and if you are not careful, that wonderful hangover of success can be quickly replaced with the threat of your certification being suspended. What?  Can they do that?  Sure can.  Your certification body (CB) will be back within 6 months of your certification and they will be looking for a number of things.  Did you record the findings from the audit in your own corrective action system or management review?  Have you fixed them?  Have you met your frequencies for internal audits, management reviews, corrective actions, calibrations, etc, etc.?  Have new employees been made aware of their impact on the system and so on and so on.  Yikes, that seems a tonne of work.  Yes it is.  So to ensure you aren’t faced with suspension threats, keep the project rolling.

BUT (yes, capitals) do not leave it to the last minute.  Don’t create that ‘hump’ of work / activity as you ready for the next audit.  Spread it out.  Take your time.  Review your frequencies and so on.  Companies who create hump days or in fact hump weeks just to ‘pass’ audits are not doing themselves or their company any favour.  And once your astute CB gets wind of the humping, the more clever of them (some say, the more caring of them), will find ways to show management that hump quality is not good quality.