Are they part of your Context (4.1) and\or considered an Interested Party (4.2)? What are their needs and expectations?
Are they part of the effective head count?
Are they required to know the quality policy? Do you expect the vendor to send the electricians over knowing the quality policy or any other QMS information? How is that flowed down? (There would be the 8.4, IMHO.)
There are many clauses to deal with most scenarios. I tend to start at the lowest number (4.1, 4.2 in this example) and see if I can't make it work from there.
That's the kind of convoluted thinking that creates so much resentment on the implementation of the standard by so many people. In my assessment, these concerns are totally irrelevant to the question and doubt of the OP.
The litmus test to answer his question is, as already expressed, do their maintenance services
DIRECTLY impacts product conformity and customer satisfaction? Most reasonable people would answer that as a resounding NO. Therefore, they are not REQUIRED to be managed as per 8.4.
Creating an unnecessary complex, artificially cumbersome mental checklist to answer that simple question detracts from down-to-earth ISO 9001 implementation efforts. We always have to remember one thing about The Cove. This is meant to be a place where people
help people; not people confuse people.
