IAF MD5:2015 – Calculation of effective number of employees (case of shift work employee)
Referring to 2.3.1 and 3.5 of IAF MD 5:
2.3.1 The effective number of personnel as defined above is used as a basis for the calculation of audit time of management systems. Considerations for determining the effective number of employees include part-time personnel and employees partially in scope, those working on shifts, administrative and all categories of office staff, repetitive processes and the employment of large numbers of unskilled personnel in some countries.
3.5 For QMS audits, Figure QMS 1 provides a visual guide to making adjustments from the audit time calculated from Table QMS 1 and provides the framework for a process that should be used for audit planning by identifying a starting point based on the total effective number of personnel for all shifts.
In the practice, each Certification Body has its own methodology for the calculation of the effective number of employees (case of shift work employee):
1/There are those who consider the main shift (high number of employees, referring to ISO TS 22003 B1)
2/There are those who consider the average of the shifts (Number of personnel in shifts/ Number of shifts)(the justification that the shifts make the same process and repetitive processes), so a reduction is applied for shift work taking into account the size of a single shift. Example: 450 employees concerned by the certification including 210 working in 3 * 8 on production lines. On the 210 employees, only a team of 70 people is taken into account in the calculation of the effective number of personnel to be audited: So the effective number of personnel = 450 – 210 + 70 = 310.
3/There are those who consider the total number of personnel for all shifts
Which is the methodology to be followed and correct?
March 2019
- The definition of EPS in IAF MD 5 is as below:1.9 Effective Number of PersonnelThe effective number of personnel consists of all personnel involved within the scope of certification including those working on each shift.Based on this definition:Consideration of the shift activities should be clear and robust and must or be used as a mehtod of reducing days.Method 1 can be more useful for ISO 22000 or relevant certification audits (e.g. FSSC 22000), since there is a specific rule for it in ISO/TS 22003 B1.Method 2 needs to be justified. In this case, the CB should focus on which shift will be audited concerning size, nature and/or content of the activities or processes conducted in this shift.Method 3 should be valid for the client organisations where the size, nature and/or content of the processes are different in each shift. In this case, all shift shall be covered by the audit plan, and all EPS in all shifts shall be taken into account for conducting effective audit and cover all processes in the client organisation.According to 3.7 of IAF MD 5 “Where product or service realization processes operate on a shift basis, the extent of auditing of each shift by the CAB depends on the processes done on each shift, and the level of control of each shift that is demonstrated by the client.”