Management system guidance
7.1 Resources
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7.1.4 Environment for the operation of processes
Confirm that your organization has determined, provided and maintained the environment it needs to operate its processes and to achieve conformity of its products and services. If you need a procedure and forms to help determine and control your business's infrastructure and process environment, click here.
Ensure that your organization provides a work environment that allows the achievement of product and service conformity. A suitable environment is usually a combination of human and physical factors, and the right mix will depend on the products and services you provide. The note to 7.1.4 gives examples of:
- Social factors, e.g. a workplace that is non-discriminatory, calm and non-confrontational;
- Psychological factors, e.g. reducing stress, preventing burnout and protecting people emotionally;
- Physical factors, e.g. temperature, heat, humidity, lighting, airflow, hygiene and noise.
A clean room, a food preparation area, a laboratory and a customer contact team will each need very different conditions. Evidence might include temperature and humidity logs, cleaning and hygiene schedules, lighting or noise checks where they affect inspection or service quality, workload and shift planning, and staff feedback or survey results.
What changed in ISO 9001:2026: the social, psychological and physical factors are the same as in 2015, but the note now recognizes that some of these factors can be influenced by the organization’s quality culture and ethical behavior. For example, a culture in which people can raise problems without fear of blame, where workloads and deadlines are realistic, and where there is no pressure to cut corners supports a calmer, less stressful environment in which work is more likely to be done right first time. Link this to the quality culture commitments made by top management under Clause 5.1.1.
If climate change issues have been deemed relevant, then how does this impact the resources needed to achieve conformity of products and services? Determine how climate change considerations impact on the environment for the operation of processes.
The process environment can overlap with requirements of other management systems, such as occupational health and safety or environmental management. ISO 9001 is only concerned with the environment insofar as it affects the operation of your processes, the conformity of your products and services and customer satisfaction; health and safety requirements in their own right are addressed by ISO 45001.
More information on PDCA
Planning
Context
Planning
Support
Doing
Support
Operations
Checking
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
Acting
Improvement
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