Document control

Document control is the systematic management of documents through creation, review, approval, distribution, revision, and obsolescence, and it is required by every ISO management-system standard — ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001. The controlled elements are unique document identification, version control, approval before issue, distribution to the points of use, prevention of the unintended use of obsolete documents, and periodic review. A controlled document is one whose distribution and revision are managed; the uncontrolled copy printed from a shared drive is the opposite, and it is the version an auditor reads when the controlled one says something different.

In a modern QEHS platform document control is digital: review-and-approval workflows, read-receipt tracking, and automatic notification when a new revision is published, so the crew on the floor cannot miss a revision the safety lead issued last week. The audit question is always the same — is the version at the point of use the current version? — and a paper system answers it with a drawer of signed master copies that no one checks, while a digital system answers it with a read-receipt and a version number. See ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and internal audit.