ISO 9001 Clause 5.5.3 Communication "Best Practices"

[Jim Wynne]

Re: 5.5.3 Communication

Thanks for the quick response..N/C identified as sales personnel unable to locate QMS documentation, in some cases unawre of the requirements of the QMS procedures. I recall that the sales representative was unable to locate what part of the quality manual sepcifically referred to her role (7.2.1 & 7.2.2)
Hope this helps

It would be helpful if you could post the full NC statement verbatim. If a person were unable to locate the QMS document(s) relevant to her work, there could be a nonconformity under 4.2.3(d), which requires that "...relevant versions of applicable documents are available at points of use..."

If documents are available at points of use and a person just didn't know where they were, it has nothing to do with 5.5.3, imo. This sounds like a "gotcha!" NC. There is no requirement for everyone to know where everything is. For example, the person in question might have been able to ask a coworker where a document was, and there's no harm done.

 

[insect warfare]

It would be helpful if you could post the full NC statement verbatim. If a person were unable to locate the QMS document(s) relevant to her work, there could be a nonconformity under 4.2.3(d), which requires that "...relevant versions of applicable documents are available at points of use..."

If documents are available at points of use and a person just didn't know where they were, it has nothing to do with 5.5.3, imo. This sounds like a "gotcha!" NC. There is no requirement for everyone to know where everything is. For example, the person in question might have been able to ask a coworker where a document was, and there's no harm done.

Right on, Jim. Another insignificant NC written around the documentation...

At first glance, I immediately thought the auditor was focused more on 5.5.1 (Responsibility and Authority) then I looked up 4.2.3 but seeing as the only relevant requirement there was for availability, I about gave up trying to interpret it. And I'm still not sure what the rationale was for listing 7.2.1 & 7.2.2, as much as it is difficult to predict how the audit was conducted, but my guess is that this (if this is in fact the NC verbatim) has a lot of the identifiers of a poorly trained auditor, IMO. A well-written finding should never be this hard to decipher - it should be clear and concise, with specificity and not generality.

Brian