The short answer: review every SOP at least once every 12 months, and immediately whenever a trigger event happens. An outdated SOP is worse than none — people stop trusting the documents, and you're back to tribal knowledge.
Recommended review frequencies
- Safety-critical and CCP procedures — every 6 months, or per your HACCP/WHS plan
- Production and operational SOPs — every 12 months
- Admin and office SOPs — every 12–24 months
- Regulated industries (food, medical, aviation) — whatever your standard mandates; ISO 9001 auditors expect evidence of scheduled review
Triggers that force an early review
Don't wait for the calendar when any of these happen:
- An incident or near-miss involving the task
- Equipment, materials or software change
- The process itself changes — even "small" workarounds
- Repeated mistakes or quality failures at the same step
- Regulation or customer requirement changes
- An audit finding or operator feedback that the SOP doesn't match reality
A review schedule that actually gets done
- Put a "Review Date" field on every SOP — the free template includes one
- Batch reviews monthly — 15 minutes on whatever's due, not a yearly marathon
- Ask the operator, not just the manager — they know where the document drifts from reality
- Record every change in the revision history with version, date and approver
- Retire superseded versions immediately — printed copies are uncontrolled
Keep SOPs easy to update
The real reason SOPs go stale is that updating them is painful. Quick SOP makes edits trivial — change a step, swap a photo, re-export the PDF — so the "latest version" is always one tap away.
FAQ
How often should SOPs be reviewed?
At minimum annually, with safety-critical procedures reviewed every 6 months. Additionally, review immediately after incidents, process or equipment changes, repeated quality failures, or audit findings.
Who should review an SOP?
The process owner together with someone who performs the task daily. The operator catches where the document has drifted from reality; the owner approves and records the change in the revision history.
Do ISO 9001 audits check SOP review dates?
Yes — auditors routinely check that documents show scheduled review dates, revision histories and approvals. SOPs with expired review dates are a common minor non-conformance.
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