1. An assessorfs complaint
Mr. S, a reporter on a national newspaper, made an interview on me about
ISO9001 and ISO14001 problems. He was not well acquainted with ISO9001
and ISO14001.
He had already information from an assessor. The assessor said to the
reporter that his certification body accepted complaints made by a company
the assessor assessed.
At the assessment the assessor made several nonconformities, but the
body withdraw the nonconformities against the complaints made after
the assessment.
One of the nonconformities was that a foreman of the company had not
its quality manual at hand. The assessor became unsatisfactory with
the complaints, because at the closing of the assessment the company
signed on the nonconformities he pointed out. Then later the company
made the complaints.
Whatfs more, the assessor said that by deleting the nonconformities
the company would improve its quality management system, but the withdrawal
missed opportunity for the company to improve its system.
Hearing the assessorfs complaint the reporter wondered there were some
deals between the company and the body.
2. My comment
Requested my comment on the assessorfs dissatisfaction, I said to
him before my comment, understanding of some basic rules for assessment
were necessary for him.
The first rule is that an assessor has to
have clear distinction between nonconformities and recommendations.
When he pointed out nonconformities, relevant gshallh had to be clearly
identified.
The second rule is that ISO9001 does not
require uniformity in the structure of quality management systems
or uniformity of documentation. Therefore there are some alternatives
to satisfy the requirements.
For instance, the way of holding quality manual by a foreman has many
alternatives. Like holding on his desk on the job site, or the central
office three meters apart from his desk. gISO9001 for small businesses:
What to do: Advice from ISO/TC176h says that if every body has easy
access to one central copy, the need for complex controls can be eliminated
and arrangements for controlling changes simplified.h
An assessor is unable to force his own way as only one selection.
The third rule is that the signs on the nonconformities by a company
side are not binding on the company forever, because some misunderstandings
will be discovered later. For the sake of a companyfs right installment
of its quality management system, the amendment sometime will be necessary.
Finally the reporter understood the right situations and changed
the first impression he had had from the assessorfs complaint.
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