On the aspect of the "where to put Product Safety/Compliance in the organization" discussion bears mentioning on the forum. In general I advocate that the Product Safety/Compliance department be separate from Engineering, Sales, and Operations. The Safety/Compliance group should avoid conflicts of interest (real or apparent) that may arise in the above mentioned groups. Even the occasional appearance of a conflicting interest can undermine the credibility of the Safety/Compliance team.
One of the valuable services that the Safety/Compliance group can provide the company is an independent assessment of a risk, hazard, situation, etc. My previous company had Safety/Compliance located with Quality. There are many overlapping and similar functions between the groups such as auditing compliance, training teams, influencing business processes, managing change control, responding to customers... -Mark Werlwas ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan E Hutley To: emc-pstc discussion group Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 12:40 AM Subject: Quality Assurance and Product Approvals Hi All I have been following with great interest the detailed and in-depth responses to this topic. I have noted that particularly in Europe as the list of New Approach Directives and other regulations grow, plus Safety and Quality issues, that companies are divesting more importance to this whole area. Two questions, does the group see a time when we have a VP Compliance on level terms with VP Finance, VP Marketing etc, or is this already happening in the US. Second Question. Does the group think a formal qualification in Compliance Management & CE Marking would be a good idea. It seems amazing that considering the importance and complexity of this area there is not as yet one qualification that can prove a persons competence. At least in Europe I am not sure about the US and rest of the world. Any comments please. Alan E Hutley Editorial & Publishing Director EMC Compliance journal www.compliance-club.com
