How To Meet ISO 9001 Clause 5 Requirements

If you’re working towards ISO 9001 certification in Australia, you’ll need to know the requirements under ISO 9001 Clause 5. This clause spells out what top management must do to lead the quality management system (QMS). Senior management must set a quality policy and align quality objectives with customer needs. They must make responsibilities clear and show commitment by allocating proper resources for the QMS.

In this article, you’ll get a breakdown of each section in Clause 5: leadership and commitment, the quality policy, and organisational responsibilities. You’ll see the requirements, how it ties into your daily operations, and which FocusIMS tools can help you meet those expectations without additional admin work.

What is ISO 9001 Clause 5?

ISO 9001 Clause 5 makes it clear that top management must do more than approve procedures from the sidelines. They need to lead from the front, take accountability, and make sure your daily operation follow the system to the dot. Clause 5 builds directly on ISO 9001 Clause 4, which focuses on the context of your organisation. Once you’ve defined that context, leadership must set the direction.

The core aim of Clause 5 is to place responsibility for the QMS squarely on the shoulders of top management. Good leadership keeps the QMS aligned with your business goals. It also ensures that customer satisfaction isn’t just a metric on a dashboard but a real focus across departments. When leadership is clear, consistent, and visible, your team knows their responsibilities and why they matter.

Top management is responsible for:

Setting a clear quality direction that reflects your organisation’s strategic goals
Ensuring that the QMS is part of everyday operations, not as a separate function
Providing the resources, time, and tools needed for the QMS to work
Reviewing performance and following up on issues
Promoting improvement and keeping everyone focused on customer satisfaction

Without this level of involvement, the QMS becomes a document set that no one looks at. With it, quality becomes part of how you do business.

Structure of ISO 9001 Clause 5

Clause 5 has three parts, each one covering a key leadership responsibility.

5.1 Leadership and Commitment

This section outlines the need for direct involvement from leadership. You must show how top management sets the direction, makes decisions based on evidence, and ensures the system supports the delivery of products and services that meet customer requirements. It also highlights the need for customer focus and the promotion of continual improvement.

5.2 Quality Policy

The quality policy must reflect your business’s purpose and direction. You’re expected to keep it updated, make it accessible, and make sure everyone understands it. It should guide actions and decisions at every level of the business.

5.3 Organisational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities

Everyone needs to know who’s doing what. This part of Clause 5 makes it clear that top management must assign roles and make sure responsibilities are understood. That includes giving people the authority to act when needed. When roles are clear, your QMS becomes easier to manage and far more effective.

ISO 9001 Clause 5.1: Leadership and Commitment

Meeting the leadership and commitment requirements in ISO 9001 Clause 5.1 starts with top management taking clear and active ownership of the QMS. If you’re aiming to meet ISO 9001 certification requirements, Clause 5.1 is where your leadership practices come under close review.

Your leadership team needs to do more than approve policies or attend annual review meetings. Clause 5.1 expects them to be hands-on in shaping and driving the QMS by:

Setting direction aligned with strategic goals. If your strategy focuses on growing in a specific market or reducing delivery time, your QMS must support those goals. Leadership must guide quality planning, set targets that reflect those priorities, and stay involved in tracking performance.
Aligning quality objectives with customer focus. Your QMS should help meet customer expectations, not just pass audits. That means listening to feedback, monitoring service delivery, and adjusting priorities based on what your clients need.
Accountability for the quality management system. Clause 5.1 makes it clear that leadership cannot push accountability for the QMS onto someone else. Your top management team is responsible for its performance.
Integrating QMS into business processes. The QMS must be built into how your business runs, not added on as an afterthought. Processes for quoting, project scheduling, training, audits, or equipment use need to reflect your quality objectives.
Supporting and resourcing the system. Leadership must make sure the QMS has the resources it needs. Time, tools, systems, and skilled people. That includes supporting internal reviews, maintaining documents, following up on issues, and investing in improvement.

How to Use FocusIMS to Meet Clause 5.1

FocusIMS helps meet Clause 5.1 requirements by embedding leadership tools directly into your day-to-day management system.

Planning and Communication Module. Use this module to prepare for leadership and planning meetings. You can set meeting agendas that reflect quality strategy and customer focus. This keeps conversations aligned with business direction and ensures leadership stays actively involved.
Project Management Module. Track whether your projects are meeting quality objectives. You can separate jobs by type, progress stage, or priority, which helps monitor how well your operational work aligns with quality goals set by management.
System Management Module. Control your compliance documentation with version history, automatic updates, and full visibility. Your leaders will always have access to the current policies and can see when they were last reviewed, updated, or approved. This makes real-time accountability much easier.

By using these tools, leadership doesn’t need to rely on memory or manual processes. They can lead the QMS with clarity and control, just as ISO 9001 Clause 5.1 expects.

ISO 9001 Clause 5.2: Quality Policy

ISO 9001 Clause 5.2 focuses on creating a quality policy that clearly communicates your direction and priorities. It’s a commitment that shapes how your business delivers value and meets customer expectations. Your policy should reflect how quality fits into your business goals and be actively used in your decision-making, not hidden away in a folder.

The quality policy should be specific, meaningful, and easy to understand. It must apply directly to your business, not lifted from a template.

Requirements for content and accessibility. ISO 9001 Clause 5 requires your policy to include a commitment to meet applicable requirements, drive continual improvement, and support the strategic direction of your business. It must be documented, maintained, and accessible to your team.
Communicating the policy internally and externally. It’s not enough to write the policy, you need to make sure it’s communicated. Staff should be aware of how their roles connect to the policy. Customers, partners, and regulators should be able to access it when needed. That could mean displaying it on your website, sharing it during onboarding, or including it in your site safety or quality plans.
Aligning the policy with business objectives. The quality policy should support your business direction. If you’re focused on faster delivery, stronger client relationships, or growing in a particular market, your quality policy needs to reflect those priorities.

How to Use FocusIMS to Meet Clause 5.2

FocusIMS provides several modules that support the development, review, and communication of your quality policy.

Planning and Communication Module. Use the built-in agenda templates to schedule regular reviews of your quality policy. You can link policy discussions with strategic planning sessions to make sure it stays relevant and actionable.
Personnel Management Module. Tie your ISO 9001 employee training directly to the quality policy. The module helps ensure your team understands the policy, how it applies to their roles, and what they need to do to support it. Training records are logged and accessible for audits or reviews.
System Management Module. Manage your quality policy documents with version control and automated updates. You can control who has access, distribute updates with alerts, and maintain a clear history of revisions. This helps you stay compliant and ensures your policy is always current.

With the right tools in place, your quality policy becomes more than a statement—it becomes a working part of your daily operations. That’s the intent behind clause 5.2 and the expectation when managing your quality management policies and procedures.

ISO 9001 Clause 5.3: Organisational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities

Clause 5.3 of ISO 9001 requires that your business defines and communicates who is responsible for what. Everyone needs to know their duties, how they contribute to quality, and who has the authority to make decisions. This level of clarity helps prevent gaps, overlaps, and confusion that can impact performance or compliance.

A key part of clause 5.3 is making sure every person understands their role in the quality system. It’s about setting expectations and making them visible across your business.

Accountability across all levels. Accountability should start at the top and be carried through to supervisors, field teams, admin staff, and contractors. Each person needs to know not just their tasks, but also the quality responsibilities tied to their role. Whether it’s signing off on inspections, checking documentation, or reporting hazards, responsibilities must be clearly assigned.
Documenting roles to ensure clarity. Writing these roles down matters. Job descriptions, organisational charts, process maps, and workflow instructions help ensure nothing is missed. Documenting roles is essential for onboarding, training, audits, and everyday operations. When roles are recorded and kept up to date, it also becomes easier to identify when tasks are slipping or when responsibilities need to shift.
Ensuring awareness and competence. Competency needs to be based on evidence, not just experience. That means recording qualifications, verifying skills, and checking whether training has been completed and understood. Regular reviews help identify where retraining or upskilling is needed. This applies to both technical and quality-related responsibilities.

How to Use FocusIMS to Meet Clause 5.3

FocusIMS provides practical tools to help assign, communicate, and maintain clarity around roles and responsibilities.

Personnel Management Module. Assign roles to each employee and track the required training and competency for their position. This module provides a central view of who is trained, who needs follow-up, and whether all required records are in place before they step onto a site. It links specific roles to documented requirements and provides reminders when refresher training is due.
Field Module. Ensure your field teams are aware of and actively fulfilling their responsibilities. Staff complete risk assessments, vehicle pre-starts, and safety forms directly from site, and submit them instantly. This confirms tasks are done correctly and provides a traceable record of who did what, and when.
Risk Management Module. Assign corrective actions to specific people after audits, inspections, or incidents. You can also monitor whether tasks are completed on time and follow up where needed. This keeps everyone accountable and ensures that actions are assigned and carried out.

When roles and responsibilities are clear, staff are trained, and tasks are followed through, your business is in a strong position to meet ISO 9001 clause 5. FocusIMS ISO 9001 compliance software can help you manage all of this in one place.

Takeaway Message

Meeting ISO 9001 Clause 5 is about showing leadership through action, setting clear direction, taking responsibility, and staying involved. With FocusIMS, the leadership requirements are part of how your team operates, plans and improves. You are not guessing, you’re leading with clarity and consistency. When leadership is active and visible, the benefits of ISO 9001 certification become real: better results, fewer surprises, and a business that’s built to deliver on its promises.