ISO 9001, element 5.3 of the standard requires a compnay to establish a quality policy. In particular, the standard requires: “The management” of an organization to “ensure that the quality policy”:

- Is appropriate to the purpose of the organization;

- Includes a commitment to comply with requirements;

- Includes a commitment to continual improvement of the effectiveness of the QMS;

- Provides a framework for establishing and reviewing quality objectives;

- Is communicated and understood within the organization;

- Is reviewed for continuing suitability

One may ask, why we started talking about this requirement. There is a very good reason. Quality policy defines the top-level commitment of your company’s management to establish a QMS in accordance with a particular standard. The reason to talk about it is that most quality policies, per my more than decade long experience as a consultant and an auditor, did not meet requirements of the standard.

To illustrate this I invite you to browse the Internet and see what you find in response to “iso 9001 quality policy”. If you are not at the computer, I will help you. Your search will show a list of companies that chose to post their quality policies on their Websites. Let’s review a few examples:

“It is the policy of [Company name] to provide a range of [services] which is reliable and consistent with the expectations and requirements of its clients; the Company’s objective of consistent high quality performance is met by mandatory adherence to protocol, through staff training and the development of personal responsibility for all personnel, together with the provision of adequate resources, according to the principles of Quality Assurance. Company policy is to review and update as necessary the Quality System through the mediation of a Quality Team, whose members undertake the responsibility of ensuring that the Quality policy is understood, implemented and maintained at all levels within the Company.” Can we say what standard this company is compliant with? Do you see a commitment for continual improvement of the effectiveness of the QMS? Do you understand how this company establishes and reviews their quality objectives? I did not find answers to these questions. However, the policy does commit to communication and understanding of its quality policy and review for suitability.

Another one: “Quality is the heart of our business and key to our goal of total customer satisfaction. Therefore it is our policy to: Consistently provide valued products and services that meet the current and future needs of our customers and suppliers; support each other in the daily use of quality systems, processes and methods to improve every activity constantly and forever; continuously look for means to construct change which provides for significant improvements in quality beyond what can be achieved by continuous improvement methods alone.” As you can see, this quality policy did not address any, I think, of the requirements of the standard. Can you imagine their quality manual or the entire quality management system?

I did not select these examples because they did not comply with the standard. I picked them from the top of the search results, just to show that most quality policies were not written to meet requirements of the standard. If you think these examples are bad, wait a moment. One of my clients came up with a quality policy that is out of this world: “I improve the Quality of Patient Care and all things [Company name]” No! I am not kidding and I did not misspelled or took any words out of this regretful quote!