ISO 9001 2008 procedures

1. Quality policy
2. Quality objectives
3. Quality Manual
4. Control of Documents
5. Control of Records
6. Nonconforming control
7. Corrective Action
8. Preventive Action
9. Internal Audit

Your companies processes determine the additional necessary documents. For small companies, you may only need a few more procedures. For large companies with many departments, many products and many processes will require numerous procedures.

Why do you need procedures? Because

• They prevent loss of specific details.
• They control sequence of steps.
• They provide consistency of results.
• They promote uniformity and reduce variation between employees.
• They are a necessary training tool.
• They are your internal standards.
• They are audit references.
• Changes can be easily tracked as improvements are made.

Cover the 6 Ws in your procedures

1. Why must the procedure be followed?
2. How is the activity performed?
3. What is covered within the procedure?
4. When is the procedure applicable?
5. Where does the activity take place ?
6. Who is responsible for following the procedure?

Make the procedure readable. Make it easy to find the information. Make it logical. Keep is simple.

The three tier approach to ISO 9001 2000 procedures

Tier two is the quality assurance management system procedures. This would include the other 8 procedures listed above and any other procedure that specify systems within the Quality Management System.

Tier three is the working documents that detail the specific activity for controlling the product and processes.

All three tiers of the ISO 9001 2008 procedures must be under the control of your documentation system.