Quality plan guidance

Quality Plan content

The document should be properly controlled and authorised and a copy submitted to BSI for review with the company quality documents. Once accepted and the Kitemark® Licence issued, the Quality Plan is retained on file and any amendments should be submitted for acceptance by BSI before being implemented.

The following is intended to provide guidance for the purpose of certification, as to the contents of a Quality Plan that is likely to be acceptable in a majority of cases. It should be emphasized that this envisages a standard situation, which may not be applicable in all circumstances. Where any of these requirements are identified as inappropriate, it may be possible to agree alternatives.

The Quality Plan can cross reference the appropriate part/s of the quality approach documentation or quality system. There is no need to duplicate information held within the quality system.

General requirements for a Quality Plan

A Quality Plan must reflect the requirements of the standard and shall include but not be limited to the following: -

• Handling and packing equipment, and/or materials specifications with the inspection/checking and/or acceptance criteria.
• Detail of the packing, collection and delivery operations and processes, identifying critical activities, the checking procedures, acceptance and rejection criteria. This should include, where appropriate, a flow chart of the key activities and inspection/checking stages.
• Procedures for dealing with non-conforming operations or service, e.g. identification, corrective action and action to prevent recurrence.
• Final checking procedures on completion of the removal operation and on completion of the after sales service operation, including frequency and methods.
• Cross reference to the quality approach documentation or the quality system. If points are covered in a quality manual then reference to the particular part could be acceptable.
• Calibration of any special measuring or test equipment used.