Does the Quality Policy have to be controlled?

[Dsang]

Does a quality policy need to have a document control number? If it is printed and posted so that it is communicated and understood throughout the organization does it need a DCN?

 

[kgott]

Re: Quality Policy

Does a quality policy need to have a document control number? If it is printed and posted so that it is communicated and understood throughout the organization does it need a DCN?

A quality policy statement is part of the documentation used for the effective planning, implemention and control of the organisations processes so it needs to be effectively controlled. How its controlled is up to the organsation but one of the requirements for a document to be controlled that its revision status is known. This will be a revision identifier shuch as a number or a date.

Hope this helps

 

[Randy]

Re: Quality Policy

Does a quality policy need to have a document control number? If it is printed and posted so that it is communicated and understood throughout the organization does it need a DCN?

It's a system document and you contraol it the same way as any other document so the answer is Yes and/or No depending on your document control methodology

By the way....Posting a document will not completely suffice as communicating and understanding, partial communication, yes, maybe, but understanding...Never happen

 

[Icy Mountain]

Our Quality Policy is part of our procedures manual. All of the documents in the procedures manual have a title and a release date. None of these documents are revised and given a new release date unless they are reviewed and approved via our change order process.

That's document control. There is no requirement to number documents. A title and a revision date are sufficient to identify any document.

 

[littleRoot]

Our Quality Policy has a document # and rev level in case it changes the employees are aware of the current revision. But you should conduct training for the Quality Policy and document this training so the auditor knows you explained the policy to employees. During training, you want to make sure the employees can connect the quality policy to their job duties so gain a better understanding. Usually an auditor will ask employees to explain the Quality Policy in their own words so simply reading a poster may not be enough to effectively communicate your Quality Policy.