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VTValiTracAI

Procedure · SOP-07

Complaints Handling

Receipt, validation, investigation, response and closure of complaints, independent of the people involved.

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Purpose

To define how the Laboratory receives, acknowledges, validates, investigates, resolves and closes complaints in a way that is independent of the persons involved in the original work, and how complaints are used to improve the management system.

What is inside

11 sections, about 3 pages when printed.

  1. 1. Purpose
  2. 2. Scope
  3. 3. References
  4. 4. Definitions
  5. 5. Responsibilities
  6. 6. Process overview
  7. 7. Procedure
  8. Records generated by this procedure
  9. Monitoring and performance indicators
  10. Assessment readiness notes
  11. Related documents

Records it generates

Applying this procedure produces the following records, which are the evidence an assessor samples.

  • –Complaints log
  • –Complaint investigation reports with evidence, review and response
  • –Correspondence with the complainant
  • –Associated CAR and nonconforming work records

What an assessor looks for

The document closes with these points, so you can check your own practice before someone else does.

  • –Whether the process description is genuinely available to interested parties (website, terms of business).
  • –Whether every complaint in the period, including verbal ones and those handled by sales staff, appears in the log.
  • –Whether the investigator and the person approving the outcome were independent of the original work, and how that is evidenced.
  • –Whether the complainant was told when handling ended.
  • –Whether an upheld technical complaint led to an impact assessment on other results.

Before you use it

  • Replace every square-bracket token, starting with [LABORATORY NAME], [ADDRESS] and [EFFECTIVE DATE]. The full token list is in GD-01 Read Me First.
  • Have the content technically reviewed against how your laboratory actually works, then approved by the responsible manager before it becomes a controlled document.
  • Update the Word fields after editing so the table of contents and page numbers are correct: select all, then press F9.
  • Record the document in your own document register and set its review date.
  • Delete the assessment readiness notes if you do not want them in your controlled version; they are guidance for you, not requirements.

Related documents

This is an original template published by ValiTrac. It does not reproduce the text of ISO/IEC 17025 or of any accreditation body publication, and it does not by itself confer or guarantee accreditation. Customise, review and approve it before use.