8 replies to this topic

[maylao123]

Hi guys, have you ever submitted your corrective actions to auditors and come back not accepted? If all the CARs cannot be closed by the deadline what will happen? Please advise. Thanks.

[olenazh]

It may depend on some factors such as time frames given to submit CARs, CAR seriousness (e.g. critical, major, minor), CAR evaluation period (is it indicated in SQF code?), etc. From your question I see that the submission time is not over yet, is it? So, you still have time to send an extension request or what it's called. 

I have that experience when the auditor returned my CARs, even couple times, till they were not satisfied with them. However, I haven't got any sanctions from CB.

[Setanta]

Hi Guys,

 

Have you ever submitted your corrective actions to auditors and come back not accepted? If all the CARs cannot be closed by the deadline what will happen?

 

Please advise. Thanks.

 

Hi Guys,

 

Have you ever submitted your corrective actions to auditors and come back not accepted? If all the CARs cannot be closed by the deadline what will happen?

 

Please advise. Thanks.

 

It means there is more work for you to do.  There isn't enough in your Corrective Action to satisfy the Auditor, or they may feel you are not on the right track.

[SQFconsultant]

I was an SQF Auditor and did reject corrections now and then.

 

If you run out of time, the audit goes into default.

 

I would call the CB to either prevent that, get some more time, etc.

[DCO_Mae]

Yes. but they asked me to revised it then pass it to them asap.

[maylao123]

I was an SQF Auditor and did reject corrections now and then.

If you run out of time, the audit goes into default.

I would call the CB to either prevent that, get some more time, etc.

Now the current situation is the auditor sent email out to us and said would be busy with audit and only has one day to review our corrective action (one day before our deadline) and requested us to send whatever completed first then send the rest. so I have sent out all our completed corrective actions last Friday and ask for confirmation of receipt.But no reply so far. I am super panic that I did something wrong.

Edited by maylao123, 10 November 2020 - 05:29 AM.

[maylao123]

It may depend on some factors such as time frames given to submit CARs, CAR seriousness (e.g. critical, major, minor), CAR evaluation period (is it indicated in SQF code?), etc. From your question I see that the submission time is not over yet, is it? So, you still have time to send an extension request or what it's called.
I have that experience when the auditor returned my CARs, even couple times, till they were not satisfied with them. However, I haven't got any sanctions from CB.

So in your case, did you request for extension from your CB to close your CARs? The deadline is by this Friday. However, the auditor said she only has Friday available to review our corrective actions, I am so afraid what if we are not in the right track. Then we don't have enough time to revise it.

[TimG]

Good morning Maylao, no need for the super panic. You sent ALL of your updated CAR last Friday, and the deadline is THIS Friday is that correct? If so that is a full week between deadline and when  you submitted, that was plenty of time for them to review. 

The auditor said she only has Friday available to review our corrective actions

That falls on the auditor and auditing body, not you. You turned in your CAR's in good faith that they abate the non-conformance and gave them time to review prior to the actual deadline. Them not having the full time to review is a scheduling/manpower issue on their end.

Hope for the best- Assume the hard work you put in on the corrective actions will be what the auditor was looking for to fix the non-conformances.

Prepare for the worst- Keep all of your correspondence, information, and dates handy in case you need to escalate to the CB after this Friday.

 

I wouldn't sweat it if I was you, worrying about what could be will just put you in an early grave. 

[pHruit]

Great advice from TimG :)

 

If you have genuine specific concerns about particular corrective action elements that you do not think you've fully closed because of time constraints, then you could always put in place something to show evidence that you have a set plan to implement these in the fastest available timescale. I've done just that this week - a corrective action from an audit is due at the end of the month, but as the UK has gone back into lockdown it's creating lots of delays that means I can't physically close out the last part until the first week of December at the earliest. I've therefore sent the auditor our planned action, and a bundle of emails showing that we started on the action strait away and have booked what we need at the very soonest opportunity possible. They want an extra bit of kit calibrating, which is fine but the companies that can do it are back to very minimised staff numbers in their facilities, so the lead time has gone from two weeks to at least four weeks. IMEX auditors understand these things - they were often QA managers themselves, so will recognise when a business is genuinely doing everything it can.
 

If it's a more general anxiousness then that's understandable - audits matter to many of us because we care about our jobs and what they mean. The longer you're in the industry, the more practice you get at dealing with this, but it doesn't go away completely (IMEX). If this is the case then I'd 100% follow TimG's advice