ISO 9001 Clause 7.4 Communication

This article covers clause 7.4 Communication. This clause is going to be broken down and turned into something you can all understand and implement in your own organization or industry. Keep on reading as I can show you just how easy this is!

Ok, let’s get started! Let’s take a look at what Clause 7.4 wants us to do.

This clause states that:

The organization shall determine the internal and external communications relevant to the quality management system, including:

a) on what it will communicate

b) when to communicate

c) with whom to communicate

d) how to communicate

e) who communicates

Sorry folks – that’s it! No further information whatsoever! So it’s what > when > with whom > how and who communicates internally and externally.

Now I’ll let you in on a little trick here. If you follow the process for Understanding the needs and expectations of your interested parties – which is clause 4.2, you should have a pretty good idea of what you will communicate, when, and with whom.

For example,

You may have identified a supplier (as an interested party) that requires (that’s their needs and expectations) a monthly report (which is the when) sent through to the product manager (which is the with whom) on the number of sales you have made of the product they supply to you (which is the what).

Now all you have to figure out is how you will communicate this (that would be the report and more than likely by email) and who is responsible in your organization for sending this monthly report to the supplier.

It’s as simple as that!

There is no requirement in this clause to document any of this, however, if a documented process prevents this communication from being forgotten then it may be beneficial. It’s completely up to you or the organization whether there is a need for these communication processes to be documented. It could be as simple as a task reminder.

Now that you have a better understanding of these requirements, it's time to take action and implement them in your own organization and ISO 9001 quality management systems.

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