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Understanding ISO 9001:2015

7.1.4 Environment for the operation of processes
The term environment in this context refers to the work
environmentand is used to describe the set of conditionsin
which employees perform their work and under which products
and services are produced.Conditions can include physical,
social, psychological and environmental factors (such as
temperature, lighting, recognition schemes, social and
occupational stress, ergonomics, etc). It can also relate to
conditions on how work is actually done (complex, repetitive,
creative, interactive, team, etc.) in work processes and
procedures.

Specific environmental conditions for product or services (e.g.

at a meat packaging plant or delivery of perishable product)
will be discussed later under clause 8.5.4 preservation.

The organization should provide and manage a suitable work

environment to achieve and maintain the sustained success
of the organization and the competitiveness of its products.

A risk assessment should be done of the facility work

environment conditions to identify and control the risks related
to their impact on:

Product & service quality,

Operation of business & qms processes,
Health & safety of employees.

This should be part of the risk management process (see

clause 6.1).
These risks will serve as inputs to the planning of controls of
the work environment. The risk assessment should also
include the impact of noncompliance with regulatory
requirements.
Suitable work environment conditions should include
consideration of ergonomics; nondiscriminatory, calm, friendly
and non-confrontational; workplace stress; health and safety;

India: C 905 Krishna Appra Saphire, Vaibhav Khand, Indirapuram. Ghaziabad. UP. India
1 .No. 16, First Floor, 70 HK Bld, Y M Road, Masjid Bunder, West Mumbai, India
UAE: Spark International FZE, PO Box 16111, RAK FTZ, RAK-UAE.
Algeria: No: 2 Etage Batimet Billayat, Cite Eyalarsa, SETIF, ALGERIA.
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etc. These factors and related controls are discussed in detail

in my eBook.
Maintenance of the work environment conditions would
require many of the infrastructure and people resource
maintenance activities already discussed in the previous
sections. Additionally it would require periodic checks by
responsible personnel such as an H&S committee for
compliance to any standards and internal criteria established
by the organization for workplace conditions it will operate
under, e.g. compliance to temperature, lighting & ventilation
criteria & settings. Many of these conditions could be managed
through computerized controls.
The work environment should encourage productivity,
creativity and well-being for the people who are working in or
visiting the organization's premises (e.g. customers, suppliers,
and partners). At the same time, the organization should
ensure that its work environment complies with applicable
statutory and regulatory requirementsand addresses
applicable standards (such as those for environmental and
occupational health and safety management).
Again these are huge topics by themselves with plenty of
standards and existence of expert literature which goes far
beyond what is expected from this ISO 9001 standard. Apply
the laundry list of factors listed in my eBook as applicable in
keeping with the size, nature of business, products & services,
risk and other considerations. The focus should be on
employee welfare and safety, effective operation of QMS
processes and product conformity.

India: C 905 Krishna Appra Saphire, Vaibhav Khand, Indirapuram. Ghaziabad. UP. India
2 .No. 16, First Floor, 70 HK Bld, Y M Road, Masjid Bunder, West Mumbai, India
UAE: Spark International FZE, PO Box 16111, RAK FTZ, RAK-UAE.
Algeria: No: 2 Etage Batimet Billayat, Cite Eyalarsa, SETIF, ALGERIA.