ISO 9001 Clause 5.3 Quality Policy

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody! It will destroy you."

Chanakya (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275 BC) 

A quality policy is a clear statement by the organization to indicate what is important in terms of quality. The quality policy establishes:

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  a commitment to quality;


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  a commitment to continual improvement;


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  what the business does;


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  what the quality objectives are, and how they are reviewed;
  Obviously, the policy needs to be relevant for the type and activities an organization performs. It is important that the quality policy covers the whole organization and is relevant to the expectations of all customers. Therefore, customer requirements (see 7.2.1 and 7.2.2) should be determined before the quality policy is established.
  
  All employees need to understand the quality policy, how it affects them, and their role in the quality system. It is important to keep in mind that the quality policy may be suitable today, but may not be suitable in the future due to changing circumstances. The quality policy must therefore be regularly reviewed for suitability.
  
  An example of quality policy could be:
  Enhancing customer satisfaction by timely delivery of durable, efficient and high quality pumping devices through continual improvement in the products and quality management system.
  
  Once quality policy is formalized by the top management, training programs should be organized to make persons, at various levels, aware of quality policy, how it is drafted, what is says, how to define objectives to meet quality policy commitments etc.
   

2008 (and 2000) edition requires quality policy to be communicated and understood at appropriate levels whereas 1994 edition required quality policy to be understood at all levels.

The requirements relating to the commitment to meeting requirements, to continual improvement and to review the quality policy are added in the 2000 edition, and therefore the 3rd edition of the standard also requires quality policy to be controlled (Giving a revision status and incriminating the status when revised).

External Document Reference: Documentation Kit

Quality Manual Section: Management responsibility
Quality Manual Section: Quality Policy