Quality Management
When we are accredited to the ISO 14001
Catch a through train for
ISO 14001
With the recent achievement in our
quality certification, we have so far arrived in
the first destination, QMS, of our journey for
quality, and there are more stops to go to
enhance our management system. Many routes
too! The Road Ahead in last Issue of the
Newsletter already gave some hints. Let’s look
more closely at the alternative routes.
If we take TQM as the ultimate destination
of our journey to enhance our management
system, there are 3 alternative routes available
to us:
Line 1 QMS EMS
Line 2 QMS EMS
Line 3 QMS PIMS
QMS is an ISO9001:2000 certificate that we
had already achieved, while EMS refers to the
ISO 14001 environmental management system.
OH&S may be new to us, is the OHSAS 18001
standard for occupational health & safety. PIMS
stands for partial integrated management
system of quality and environment, i.e. a
combined management system of ISO 9001 and
ISO 14001 standards. FIMS refers to a fully
integrated management system of quality,
environment and occupational health & safety,
and is a fully combined management system
complying with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS
18001 standards. TQM is Total Quality
Management.
Line 3 to TQM is very obviously the
shortest, and PIMS would be the next stop in
our journey for perfecting our management
system. When we arrive at the station PIMS, the
first important thing we would get will be the
ISO14001 certificate, which will then be
combined with ISO 9001 QMS as the PIMS.
standard, we shall have implemented and
maintained an Environmental Management
System (EMS) complying with this standard.
There are many benefits that we would get from
our EMS. We would have the tools and
comprehensive framework to systematically
evaluate, manage and minimize the
environmental impacts of our activities. The
environmental objectives and their
measurement on progress or achievements will
provide us with evidence for reporting
externally, such as to District Boards or Action
Groups. Energy and waste associated with our
department would not be managed in isolation,
they would be addressed in a holistic way of
environmental management. The EMS would
OH&S FIMS TQM
PIMS OH&S FIMS TQM
FIMS TQM
then be integrated with QMS to give a more
efficient way to enhance our management
system. We would make use of the existing
quality management structure, such as the
Departmental Quality Management Committee,
Office Quality Management Committees, Internal
Audit Organization, and Working Groups to
perform various management functions on
quality and environmental issues effectively.
These functions include implementing continual
improvement plans, review of effectiveness of
the management system, provision of resources,
setting objectives and their achievement
targets, evaluation of internal and external audit
results and training effectiveness. Internal
audits on quality could also be carried out at
the same time as for environmental matters to
minimize interruptions to normal operations.
Similar arrangement could be made for external
audits.
Gregory CHING
Quality Management Unit