ISO 9001 in a pandemic

During the pandemic event:

• supply chains may be disrupted;
• operations need to practice social distancing and prevent loss of employees;
• normal distribution channels may be disrupted;
• customers may be closed or only accessible through new distribution channels.

Some organizations see their workloads drop significantly. Organizations that nevertheless continue to function can take advantage of the period to train employees, to develop experiences in production that would otherwise be difficult, to maintain equipment, to change layout, to develop improvement actions.

Some organizations continue to work and have to find alternative suppliers without jeopardizing quality. So, new suppliers have to be tested, trained and monitored.

Organizations that continue to work should train employees so that they can be versatile and perform functions for which they are not prepared, to replace any colleague who becomes infected.

Organizations that continue to work may have to change space and tools use to practice social distancing. So, new practices may have to be implemented and work instructions changed. Some organizations will need remote audits to check that these changes are in place and effective.

Organizations that continue to work may be forced to change to use new distribution channels. That may require training and setting new payment systems.

Some organizations will need help in migrating for internet meetings and communication with suppliers, customers and sales force.

These are some examples of how a consulting company can still help organizations during this pandemic event with ISO 9001:

Please consider this article - How to use ISO standards to address a pandemic - https://advisera.com/articles/how-to-use-iso-standards-to-address-a-pandemic/