General quality management

Management of exceptions

For the continuity of operations, it is particularly important to prepare for possible exceptions and to deal with them in advance. The exceptions can be changes in the business operations, fault situations, customer feedback or a hazard that a product has posed to its user. You can prepare for these in advance by formulating clear procedures for clarifying and managing the possible exceptions and the measures necessary to fix them as soon as possible.

Customer feedback generally indicates either good or bad customer satisfaction with the business’s operations and products, but it can also provide other kinds of information or signs of hidden issues. It is important to have the easiest and clearest feedback channel/channels possible for customer feedback. The feedback channel can be a form the customer can fill in on the business’s website or an email address created for feedback. It is important that customers are clearly informed of the possibility of giving feedback.

Customer feedback is of little use if it is not used systematically. Regular monitoring and analysis of customer feedback is necessary to be able to react to possible exceptions in a timely and proportionate manner. Customer feedback may reveal that a product may have caused a dangerous situation or a near miss that could have become an even more serious incident or accident in different circumstances. Regular monitoring of customer feedback helps address these potential situations in a timely manner, and it reduces the risk of major damage.

In doing so, please note that if a product does not meet the legal requirements and presents a risk to health, safety or the environment, corrective action must be taken immediately to fix the situation. You can find further information on these necessary corrective measures on the Tukes website: https://tukes.fi/en/products-and-services/dangerous-products. In addition to taking corrective measures, the company must assess whether another of its products may have a similar deficiency or risk.