In this article, I’m going to cover ISO 9001 clause 7.3 Awareness. I’m going to break this clause down and turn it into something you can all understand and implement in your own organization or industry.
Ok, let’s get started! Let’s take a look at what Clause 7.3 wants us to do. First off, the first two points of the clause states that:
The organization shall ensure that persons doing work under the organization’s control are aware of:
a) the quality policy
b) relevant quality objectives
Ok, we’ve already established the quality policy back in clause 5.2 and we’ve implemented our quality objectives back in clause 6.2. Now clause 7.3 is saying that our workers need to be aware of these. This might happen in initial induction training or if there have been any changes this could be ongoing staff training, communication, or notices. The evidence that I’ve seen for this being completed in the businesses that I have worked with has been:
- training presentations used at staff induction and training, that include sections on the policy and objectives
- a company handbook that includes the policy and objectives that is used for inductions and training
- induction and training checklists and records that include sections on the policy and objectives
Right, that covers those first two requirements, now let’s move on to the remaining two. Once again, the clause states that:
The organization shall ensure that persons doing work under the organization’s control are aware of:
c) their contribution to the effectiveness of the quality management system, including the benefits of improved performance
d) the implications of not conforming with the quality management system requirements
This is telling us that it’s not good enough just to be aware of the policy and objectives, it’s saying that there actually has to be more of an understanding of how in workers' own roles they contribute in a positive way to the quality management system. And then if they don’t follow the system requirements what could potentially happen?
So, what does this normally look like? Again, it could be included in induction and training material and records. However, it is more of a day-to-day process as well, isn’t it? Honestly, if you have built your quality management system to integrate with your business processes, then the contribution and the implications are really built into the system.
Your workers need to follow the processes and if they don’t then the implications could be a faulty product, a nonconformance, or a customer complaint.
There is no requirement in this clause to maintain or retain documented information, so remember that if you are auditing against this clause. You shouldn’t be raising a nonconformance stating that documented information was not retained in the records of this training and awareness.
You would observe the evidence by interviewing workers and following their processes, as well as looking at the induction and training processes. Look, there probably will be some sort of documented evidence regardless of the requirements of this clause, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t expect it as an auditor.
Now that I’ve explained all of these requirements, can you see more clearly how you could action and demonstrate these requirements in your own ISO 9001 quality management systems?
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