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

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.