Competence & OJT — supplemental (IATF only)
Plain-language summary
A documented training process covering awareness and competence needs (including customer requirements), plus structured on-the-job training for any new or changed role affecting quality — down to contract and agency staff.
What the clause is really asking
Formalise it: documented process to identify training needs including customer-specific requirements, achieve competence, and raise awareness. OJT must exist for new/modified responsibilities, include agency personnel, and the people whose work affects quality must know the consequences for the customer when things go wrong.
What auditors look for
Auditors target the weakest link: the labour-broker operator who started Tuesday. Where is the OJT record, who qualified them, do they know what happens to the customer if this characteristic fails? Documented process, not ad-hoc goodwill, is the requirement.
Typical evidence
Training process procedure; OJT programmes and sign-offs; agency staff training records; customer-requirement training (CSR-specific).
How to comply — recommendations
Build a stepped OJT card per workstation: demonstrated -> supervised -> independent, with dates and signatures. Apply it to every warm body at the station, payroll or agency. Include one line on 'what failure costs the customer' — it covers the consequence-awareness requirement elegantly.
Common nonconformities
Agency operators with no records; OJT informal and unsigned; nobody able to explain the customer consequence of their station failing; CSR training requirements unknown.
Related clauses
Builds on ISO 9001 7.2
In the book
Chapter 7 — Support — People, Kit and the Truth About Documents treats this clause family in full: what it is really asking, what auditors look for, the evidence that satisfies, how to make it work on a real floor, and where companies stumble. This IATF requirement is covered in the Automotive Edition, in the same six blocks as the ISO clause around it.
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