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  • Posts Tagged ‘ISO 9001’

    What is a Quality Policy?

    Monday, February 6th, 2012

    It is a concise document that defines organisational goals and objectives with regard to quality, a commitment to meeting stated requirements, and an undertaking to drive continuous improvement throughout the organisation’s activities. It must be suitable for the organisation and provide a framework for establishing, communicating, and monitoring performance against agreed quality objectives.

    Therefore the policy must:

    • Be appropriate to the purpose of the organization,
    • Include a commitment to comply with requirements and continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system,
    • Provide a framework for establishing and reviewing quality objectives,
    • Be is communicated and understood within the organization, and
    • Be reviewed for continuing suitability.

    Why write a quality policy? It can formally demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to comply with legislation, international standards, and meeting customer requirements. It sets a benchmark for the organisation so that it can measure its own performance. If such commitments are informal, then the organisation as well as the senior management cannot be held to account! So what your policy say about you?

    ISO 9001 Clause 6.2.2 – Competence, training and awareness

    Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

    Many companies ask us “How do we meet establish our competencies?”

    To satisfy the competence/effectiveness requirements of ISO 9001, an organisation will typically need to do several things:-

    Identify what competencies are required by personnel performing work which affects quality

    • Identify which personnel already performing the work have the required competencies

    • Decide what additional competencies are required

    • Decide how these additional competencies are to be obtained – training of personnel (external or internal), theoretical or practical training, hiring of new competent personnel, assignment of existing competent personnel to different work

    • Train, hire or reassign personnel

    • Review the effectiveness of actions taken to satisfy competence needs and to ensure that the necessary competence has been achieved

    • Periodically review competence of personnel

    Throughout the process, the organisation is required to maintain appropriate records of education, training, skills and experience. However, ISO 9001 does not specify how the process will be established or the exact nature of the records to be maintained.

    In auditing an organisation’s compliance with the competence and training evaluation requirements, an Auditor would typically be seeking evidence that the following issues are addressed:-

    1 – An organisation needs to identify what competencies are required by personnel performing work that affects quality.

    2 – Are competent people assigned to those work place activities necessary to control the quality characteristics of its processes and products?

    3- The organization needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken to satisfy the competence needs and to ensure that the necessary competence has been achieved.

    4 – Maintenance of competence.

    New Auditor Standard Issued

    Saturday, November 19th, 2011

    A new international auditor standard has been issued, ISO 19011:2011 which provides guidance on auditing management systems, including the principles of auditing, managing an audit programme and conducting management system audits, as well as guidance on the evaluation of competence of individuals involved in the audit process, including the person managing the audit programme, auditors and audit teams.

    Interface continues to comply with the most up to date and relevant standards. We only employ IRCA certified auditors who are fully competent and able to conduct ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 audits. We have a complex method of identifying and assessing our auditors to ensure they remain current and aware of auditing principles and technical advances in their relevant technical fields.

    In conjunction with the client, we assess the key requirements of the organisation to ensure we match a fully competent auditor who knows about the product or service that the company provides and the relevant processes that are part of that business. Therefore when the Interface Auditor arrives, they should be fully familiar with the business and its activities to ensure a smooth and seamless assessment.

    This new updated standard is also applicable to Internal Auditors, all Internal Auditors should also be familiar with the principles within this standard, if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@interface.co.uk

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    Email: info@interface-nrm.co.uk