Quality Policy Statement Content Requirements

Quick question for you auditors out there.

if you were auditing a compnay and you looked at their quality policy statement and it did not say anything about what the company does; it only stated that they wanted to meet or exceed customer expecations and continually improve its quality system would that meet the intent of 5.3 a)?

Does a company have to say in their quality policy what they do? Like a committment to provide high quality widgits...or somenthing like that.

The short answer is no, it is not required that a company states what it does (manufacturing or otherwise) when creating a Quality Policy.

Tom W said:

Quick question for you auditors out there.

if you were auditing a company and you looked at their quality policy statement and it did not say anything about what the company does; it only stated that they wanted to meet or exceed customer expectations and continually improve its quality system would that meet the intent of 5.3 a)?

Does a company have to say in their quality policy what they do? Like a commitment to provide high quality widgets...or something like that.

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Simple answer, No. Even it doesn't have to state words like 'meeting or exceeding customer expectations'.

"5.3 a) is appropriate to the purpose of the organization" - Obviously the purpose of the organization is to create and satisfy the customers, so the policy shouldn't say anything that is inconsistent with the organization's real purpose. When you talk of customer satisfaction, it's implied that the CS can be achieved through providing products/ services only, else how would you communicate with the customers.

Providing high quality widgets may not be the purpose of the organization. They might strive to achieve higher Customer Satisfaction by providing, e.g. medium quality products and yet sustain.

Best one I ever had (a former client) was "Quality & Service".

There is no requirement to have a "statement". Isn't the policy really the overall management system requirements?

As others have said, there is no requirement to state what you do in the quality policy but there is a requirement (4.2.2 a) to state the scope of the QMS which often describes the organisation's activities.

tomvehoski said:

There is no requirement to have a "statement".

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Pl. refer 4.2.1 General

The quality management system documentation shall include
a) documented statements of a quality policy and.....

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Tom W said:

Quick question for you auditors out there.

if you were auditing a company and you looked at their quality policy statement and it did not say anything about what the company does; it only stated that they wanted to meet or exceed customer expectations and continually improve its quality system would that meet the intent of 5.3 a)?

Does a company have to say in their quality policy what they do? Like a commitment to provide high quality widgits...or something like that.

Click to expand...

The key is that it should provide a frame work for setting objectives. So, although it may not describe what the company 'does', wouldn't it include items that can have objectives, measurements, processes etc developed from them...?

Colpart said:

As others have said, there is no requirement to state what you do in the quality policy but there is a requirement (4.2.2 a) to state the scope of the QMS which often describes the organisation's activities.

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But that's a requirement of Quality Manual.

Re: Policy Statement - How many sentences does your policy statement contain?

Dear I disagree with the statement where we write that we shall do it. I should be " we do it" Pls comment.

Dear Sir,
I need your help to write quality policy. Some auditors say that the quality policy should be written as " we shall do it" whereas some auditors say that it should be written as " We do it".

Is the quality policy depict the future or it depict the present activity.

" we shall satisfy our customer through better customer services"

OR

" we satisfy our customer through better customer services"

Which is right sir?