ISO 9001:2015 Clause 7.1 Resources

• 7.1.1 General Overview
• 7.1.2 People
• 7.1.3 Infrastructure (Facilities, technology and equipment)
• 7.1.4 Environment (Social, psychological and physical)
• 7.1.5 Monitoring and Measuring Resources 
• 7.1.6 Organizational Knowledge

Most organizations have questions regarding subclauses 7.1.2-7.1.4. We will give further details on these subclauses below.

Your organization needs to ask whether these resources are sufficient to create quality products or service and customer satisfaction. Auditors will be looking to see if the lack of these resources is at the root cause of nonconformities. Therefore, you should consider these resources or insufficient resources as a potential cause of nonconformities. As internal audits or your corrective action system identify problems with resources as a root cause, improvements to the resources are necessary. Providing adequate resources is a core element of your QMS.

People

Do you have the right people in the right positions? Are there open positions that need to be filled or new positions that need to be created in order to ensure an effective QMS? If you don’t have enough people or the right people it will have a negative impact on your organization and result in nonconforming products or services. If an employee is in a position where they do not have the qualifications required of the job description, you have a human resource nonconformance. If an employee must undergo additional training to perform their job, the organization must provide that training and ensure the training was effective.

Infrastructure

Auditors will evaluate the buildings, workspace, equipment, and supporting services to determine if they are adequate for achieving conforming products and services. You must have the right facilities and equipment to ensure a process or product meets it’s required outputs. Failure to provided the necessary infrastructure resources will result in a nonconformance.

Environment

Environmental factors have a direct impact on product or service quality. A suitable environment can include social, psychological or physical factors. For example, cleanliness, temperature, ergonomics, or lighting can all affect quality or cause nonconformities. Auditors will consider environmental issues, and may determine that inadequate control of the environment is the root cause of a nonconformance.

ISO 9001 Implementation Resources and Assistance

The 9000 Store is here to help you create a QMS to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 Clause 7.1 Resources, and all requirements identified in the standard. Project managers don’t need to do it alone; our documents outline tried and proven quality processes to address the requirements of the standard. Our experts answer your questions by email as you tailor these processes to your organization, creating your own unique Quality Management System. We provide the tools you need to train your employees efficiently and effectively.