Read or recite? Is it OK to read the company quality policy from a sheet of paper?

[dbulak]

Is it OK to read the company quality policy from a sheet of paper when asked the company quality policy by an auditor?

[cncmarine]

The key word in the standard is "understood"

So if the operator / employee can explain what it means..it does not have to word for work.

[Wes Bucey]

In Reply to Parent Post by dbulak

Is it OK to read the company quality policy from a sheet of paper when asked the company quality policy by an auditor?

Sure! If I were the auditor, I would then ask follow-up questions after an employee read the Quality Policy off a card or sheet of paper.
"Can you explain that in your own words, please?"

"How often do you refer to that sheet of paper per day?"

"How does that translate into what YOU do?"

[little__cee]

I was told that if an employee wasn't sure of the policy wording but knew where to find it (ex: I'm not sure but I have it on a card in my pocket...or...I know it is posted by the timeclock) that would be sufficient.

Is this true?

[cncmarine]

again the key word is "understood"

if the employee show that he understands it then it does not have to be word for word

[BadgerMan]

In Reply to Parent Post by little__cee

I was told that if an employee wasn't sure of the policy wording but knew where to find it (ex: I'm not sure but I have it on a card in my pocket...or...I know it is posted by the timeclock) that would be sufficient.

Is this true?

I believe it to be true based on my past experiences with third party auditors.

[John E Hopkinson - 2010]

As I read it the policy is supposed to be understood 5.3 (d). I feel the Quality Objective part of the policy are the part that ties it all together and should be understood by people 6.2.2 (d)

[António Vieira]

Once I made an audit for a Registrar to a Hotel. There I found a worker that doesn’t speak one word of Portuguese. She was from Romania.
I couldn’t ask her to explain the Hotel’s Quality Policy because there was no possible communication between us.

In this case, how does she follow the work instructions regarding her job?
That was easy; she doesn’t need to speak to anybody. Her chief told her what to do and I could in fact verify that she does it perfectly.

In these cases of “asking all employees if they understand the quality policy", I think that the auditor must apply what 7.2 of ISO 19011:2002 refers about him.

After all, it’s not a direct cause to know the quality policy and make good products and the contrary is also true!