What documents/records should we be retaining and for how long?

[squonkdb]

Need a little guidance here...Our company currently runs under ISO 9001:2008 and I was wondering what documents/records should we be retaining and for how long from both a standard as well as a liability perspective? There are some things like final and in-process test/inspection records that we retain indefinitely, so I was wondering more about things like customer purchase orders (with quality clauses), records of PO review, C of Cs sent to customers, etc.

Any input or real life experience would be helpful and is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PaulJSmith]

Re: Record Retention

Your retention schedule will likely be determined largely by some combination of customer requirements, government regulations, and your company's internal policy. It will probably differ for each type of record. As far as requirements from ISO, they only require that you have a documented procedure in place, and that you follow it.

 

[AndyN]

Re: Record Retention

If you care to scroll down, this topic has been covered many many times already and your answer is in those other posts.

 

[kgott]

for the periods of time specified in legislation or in contacts with customers otherwise at the discrection of management.

Some standards talk about 'knowledge preservation,' but I have not yet worked for an organisation that has had the time to go back through their records and do this.

I have worked for organisations that keep them indefinatley because they are on the server and costs too much to back through the job or project records and delete those records which are obsolete. Its cheaper to just buy bigger storage capacity.

 

[squonkdb]

Thanks for the responses.

I guess my bottom line question is, "Do I need to keep this?" And I'm asking this mainly from a liability standpoint.

In the course of completing an order, we generate several different pieces of documentation, some of which clearly need to be kept indefinitely (in-process and final inspection and test data, C of C's, etc.). But there are other pieces that I'm really not sure about. For example, a sales order acknowledgement, or the customer's PO, both of which have information related to what is expected from the customer in regards to completing the order (including quality info), but are these really necessary to retain indefinitely from a liability standpoint?

 

[kgott]

Thanks for the responses.

I guess my bottom line question is, "Do I need to keep this?" And I'm asking this mainly from a liability standpoint.

In the course of completing an order, we generate several different pieces of documentation, some of which clearly need to be kept indefinitely (in-process and final inspection and test data, C of C's, etc.). But there are other pieces that I'm really not sure about. For example, a sales order acknowledgement, or the customer's PO, both of which have information related to what is expected from the customer in regards to completing the order (including quality info), but are these really necessary to retain indefinitely from a liability standpoint?

Liability is the most common reason records are kept, its the one management understand and relate to the most.

 

[Raffy]

Hi
In hospitals or in a health care organization, what are the typical documents and or records worth retaining? Please advice.
Thank you very much in advance for the usual kind attention you will give this matter.
Best regards,
Raffy