It's interesting that you say that the general population don't need to know anything about ISO. When a previous company I worked at went for ISO14001 certification, the auditor interviewed 15 people picked at random and asked them if they knew what ISO14001 was and what the company policy was and what it meant for them in their day to day activities. If we hadn't have done awareness sessions with everyone, we would have had an issue with this I feel.
Also, in the past, anyway, was the standard "What does the company quality policy mean to you?" that the auditors had to ask of a sample of people.
JoShmo is correct. The vast majority of the workforce is not required to know anything about international standards their employers ascribe to comply with, just like most of the workforce is not required to know regulatory requirements the company is required to satisfy.
The conformance and compliance happens by deployment of policies, processes, procedures, systems, etc...
In my experience, subjecting the workers to unnecessary "ISO indoctrination/awareness sessions" is counterproductive. Most people end up confused and a typical unintended result is the dreaded reference to our "ISO procedures", our "ISO manual", "ISO this and ISO that". A clear symptom of a failed implementation.
In the "early" days it had more significance because an "implementation" was often a significant event in a company. I did a lot of company wide "What is this ISO thing" because it explained to workers what was happening (such as why one or more persons, typically from outside the company) were nosing around, asking questions, and, significantly, it was typical for the workers to never have gone through an audit. I remember the days of teaching the employees how to go through an audit - How to respond in an audit.
While these days making all employees aware of the basics of ISO 9001, at least what it meant to them and their jobs, I don't believe it is always a waste of time. It doesn't have to be a detailed explanation of the standard.
When I was doing a lot of implementations years ago I found a basic "About ISO 9001" presentation made my job easier, helped the employees understand what was going on, and how it affected them. It also was a method to make the employees feel that they were involved in/part of the implementation project and that there was not some hidden agenda or a "secret project" that upper management was laying on them.
When JoShmo says: "The vast majority of the workforce is not required to know anything about international standards their employers ascribe to comply with..." he is right. Then again, when a company first implements ISO 9001 it is typically company wide and some aspect(s) of ISO 9001 apply to every employee. Educating the workforce and "keeping them in the loop" shouldn't be looked at as wasted time. At the very least it helps them understand what ISO 9001 is and how it will affect them in their specific jobs. Like I say - It doesn't have to be a detailed explanation of the entire contents of the standard.
If: "...Most people end up confused..." the problem is in the presentation content. Personally I used to have several "presentations", each focused on/targeting different groups in the company/organization.
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