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Unannounced Audits

Started by , Sep 15 2021 08:08 PM
19 Replies

Are SQF certifying bodies allowed to "fake you out" when it comes to your unannounced audits?  Like a certifying body decides to send out a scheduling e-mail for certain dates, but they send an auditor during your audit window?

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I didn't think they sent out scheduling emails when un-announced? 

It's been a few years, but my certifying body just gave me a window of 120 days.

 

Edit: Actually, I think it was 90 days..

I should've just called you and asked. :)

In my experience, we received a letter stating the audit was unannounced and would fall +/- 30 days from a particular date, which in our case was the date of our first certification audit.  I had blackout requests already in place within the time frame, and they respected those.  I don't get the impression they are out to get you! 

 

I did have an auditor tell me that from the data collected since they started the unannounced audits, scores from announced and unannounced audits were not significantly different.  

I should've just called you and asked. :)

Ha! That's right you told me you were on here. I seen you called but I was flirting with the Cintas medicine woman.

How's the new place been treating you? 

Call me later if you have any more questions, you must be coming up on your first unannounced. You should do fine, your documentation is usually rock solid. How's the culture there?

Well, I got an e-mail to schedule our next one but I didn't know if CBs are allowed to basically throw you off the suspicion an unannounced audit with a confirmation date, because this will be our 2nd of three and the first was announced, and if this one is announced, then I know 2023's will be unannounced.  

 

The new place is treating me pretty decently.  The turnover rate is high among the floor staff (because the pay is pretty subpar), so I am constantly training new people.  I have food safety orientation scheduled at a set time every week because we have at least 1-3 new people each week.  They were already SQF certified when I started so the buy-in on a food safety perspective had already been set when I started.  Makes my life a whole lot easier, especially when our main customer base is young children because the employees understand that if one kid gets sick or hurt, that's a whole bigger ball of wax.

 

Hopefully things work out with Cintas lady.

Ha! That's right you told me you were on here. I seen you called but I was flirting with the Cintas medicine woman.

How's the new place been treating you? 

Call me later if you have any more questions, you must be coming up on your first unannounced. You should do fine, your documentation is usually rock solid. How's the culture there?

Must of been the same one that used to service my previous job...*warning* stay off her snapchat feed  :shades:

It was just some harmless flirting! In fact, it's probably not even PC to call it flirting nowadays.

I'm not sure what the kids call it now, though?

It's actually called conferring with a colleague and always has been

It's actually called conferring with a colleague and always has been

Lol, not always!

 

My medicine lady looks like Bob Uecker, you're lucky.  Bandaids work tho...

Lol, not always!

 

My medicine lady looks like Bob Uecker, you're lucky.  

Hey guys, what "medicine ladies" you're talking about? Some special treatment for men, or what?

Hey guys, what "medicine ladies" you're talking about? Some special treatment for men, or what?

 

Nah, first aid cabinet re-stocking. They come and restock or replace expired meds.

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I use so much stuff from the free medicine cabinet they should take money out of my check.  Lots of ibu-pro poppin.

I use so much stuff from the free medicine cabinet they should take money out of my check.  Lots of ibu-pro poppin.

Hey, FREE medicine, I've heard you correctly? How come? I never knew Cintas is giving something for free - at least, here in Canada. What for ibuprofen? Having headaches?

Hey, FREE medicine, I've heard you correctly? How come? I never knew Cintas is giving something for free - at least, here in Canada. What for ibuprofen? Having headaches?

 

Never going to happen in Canada!!!!!!!!!!!!   Even if you worked at a facility large enough to have a nurse on site, it still wouldn't just be available to take!

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Woah woah woah..no one said free!

And he probably takes ibuprofin for 'work'aches. Those are the headaches that are 100% induced by something ridiculous that happened at work...

 

Sorry Terry for hi-jacking your thread...

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This is how the year is determined for an unannounced Audit. Email directly from CB when I questioned why we were given a date in what I also thought was an unannounced year.

 

Since your certification year was in 2019, the cycle looks like this:

  • Registration year 2019 (does not count toward 3 year unannounced cycle)
  • Reassessment 1 2020 (announced)
  • Reassessment 2 2021 (announced)
  • Reassessment 3 2022 (unannounced) 

For one of our "Unannounced" audits our CB called to see whether hotels would be available for the week of...

 

OOPS!

That's when it would be a benefit to have your business in a "one horse" town wouldn't it!

For one of our "Unannounced" audits our CB called to see whether hotels would be available for the week of...

 

OOPS!

 

I won't throw my past auditor under the bus, but she MIGHT have called me to tell me she was looking forward to a jug of Tim Hortons on X-X-X date (which turned out to be our unannounced audit and the first year of unannounced SQF audits). I always made sure one was hot and ready for her on her audit days.

It's always a good idea to treat your auditors well. I'd never ask one to look the other way, but that little heads up was nice because that was the first year of unannounced. 


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