Rob Kantner answers your questions:
"A thousand grandfathers" (8/24/05)
(All spelling and punctuation actual): We are currently ISO 9001-2000 reqestrered as of Aug, 2004. Our Training procedure was revised and an statement was added the says "As of December 1, 2004 all employees are grandfathered.” Can the statement be added? Is this acceptable?
What exactly are you 'grandfathering'? And why? A blanket statement like this all by itself doesn't really mean anything.
Companies "grandfather" their existing employees in terms of qualifications, skills, etc. That's so you don't have to show evidence of training that might have taken place years ago.
Usually auditors expect that the grandfathering point would have been several months BEFORE registration so they can see that your training system itself is working.
Train people on how to follow work instructions? (10/29/04)
Flow chart to train people how to follow work instructions.
I gather from your inquiry that employees have trouble following work instructions. I doubt that some form of "training" is the answer. If employees are having trouble following work instructions, the problem most likely lies in the work instructions themselves.
- Try simplifying them. Plain language, short sentences.
- Make sure all the terminology and jargon is familiar to them.
- Consider graphical instructions - flow charts instead of text/narrative.
- Consider pictorial instructions with minimal verbiage.
- Have supervisors, team leaders, etc., with extensive process knowledge, review the instructions for accuracy and accessibility. (If they have not bought into the work instructions, that might be your problem right there.)
What about employee retraining? (8/30/04)
In order to demonstrate a reasonable effort at training, what retraining frequency would you recommend for Work Instructions, SOPs, Internal Auditor, etc.?
Nowhere in 6.2 does the Standard mandate "retraining."
Retraining is called for when:
- The training verification step (which may be a quiz, or observation by a supervisor, or some other means of assessing work performance) shows that the original training did not work.
- An audit (external, internal) turns up a discrepancy for which the root cause is inadequate training.
- A corrective action pinpoints the need for retraining.
- A process change has taken place (leading to changes in procedures and/or work instructions), requiring retraining for those affected.
- Laws / regulations require periodic re-training.
- A person has changed jobs.
I've never been much of a believer in mandated retraining intervals. It's a waste of time for people who don't need it. If supervision, auditing, etc. are doing an adequate job, the need for retraining (aside from under the above circumstances) should be readily apparent. And if you can show that you act on the above symptoms with retraining, that should be enough to satisfy any auditor.
One thing you could do is carry out periodic (say once a year) knowledge / skills testing of employees, and let the results of that drive whatever retraining you find necessary to do.
Must We "Certify" All Our Employees?
My company has 6000+ employees. We are in the process of implementing ISO 9001. A concern that has been raised is in reference to 6.2.2, Training. Some are convinced that we will have to spend millions "certifying" all of our employees to their job, especially in the shop environment. I interpret the standard as saying that you: have a program, you follow it, and keep records of training given. What is required?
"Certifying" is not required. What you need to do for each function in the company (all functions -- not just production functions) is:
- List the qualifications / skills needed to perform the functions' duties/ tasks effectively.
- For each employee in those functions, someone in authority (usually the person's supervisor) needs to sign off that the person is competent in the required qualifications and skills.
This is the "grandfathering" part. It sounds like a mostly paperwork exercise, but you'll be surprised how hard it can be, for certain functions, to agree as to what the qualifications/skills actually are -- and how hard it can be to agree that certain individuals really are competent in the skills needed for jobs they may have been doing for a long time!
Then, as people change jobs, as new positions are added, as new hires come in, the system needs to be applied to them as well.
They need to be advance-qualified based on hiring criteria that you set, and then, as they become competent in the skills you have defined for the functions, records of that training needs to be kept as well.
ISO 9001 (2000) and ISO/TS 16949 also require that you have a means for assessing the effectiveness of training.
