Document Control - 'Valid Only on Print Date' in Footer (Opinions Requested)

K

KenS

Valid only on Print Date (Opinions Requested)

All hard copy procedures at this company have a statement in the footer, "This Paper Copy Valid Only on Print Date". This has given me a problem since I've been here (9 months). The explaination is that the user of the procedure "verifies" on the intranet that his/her copy is the latest revision before using it on other than the print date.

Recently I conducted an audit and found two procedures being used that had been printed on a previous day. I found no documentation that they were indeed "verified", neither operator even claimed to have done so and one didn't even know where to find the procedures on the net. I considered this a pretty serious finding and for the umpteenth time suggested that perhaps this method of document control should be done away with. I believe that if this is used there must be some documentation of the "verification", initials, stamp, drops of blood etc. Needless to say, the Corporate VP of Quality (his system) disagrees.

Opinions Please
 
J

JodiB

not that it's worth much...

But here is my opinion.

I considered adding a watermark to our printed documents that would say that it was valid for two days. And adding an autodate print to each document. But had problems with it, and decided fudge it, I would simply say in my doc control procedure that only printed documents distributed through the doc control procedure would be considered valid. (because we do have some operational manuals that are hard copy by neccessity and they are controlled). And I further said that the procedure was to prevent the "unintended" use of obsolete documents.

Then I put in the footer of the procedure template "verify that this is the current revision before use".:smokin:

This puts the onus on the user and does not disallow a printed copy from being used- as a reference, whatever- but that the user needs to verify the revision. They can easily do that by referring to the Master List online.

Now in your case, it is a lack of training that the users didn't know where to find the current version.

Ooops, they're locking up the office on me! Gotta run!
 

gpainter

Quite Involved in Discussions
Controlled documents are basically documents that will be replaced/changed as changes occur. So once you print one out it is usually uncontrolled and will not be updated. At one place I worked the document control manager would stamp printed documents "uncontrolled -valid for 2 days" there was a space for the print date. Since you have an intranet based system, then add the watermark, disable the print function or add more monitors. One of the benefits of a computer based system is no printed copies. It is obvious from the audit there is a problem. What was said in response to the Corrective Action? If the CA is not solving the problem do not close it, send it back. Did the users of the procedures know they were supposed to check if the procedure was current or how to do that?
 
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