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Our newsletters provide guidance on ISO 9001,
AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO/TS 16949, TL 9000, ISO
14001,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, and related ISO
standards, as well as, Six Sigma.
If you have any questions about the articles
appearing in this issue, or you want to suggest
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know.
Plan for Emergencies
A recent article in the HR Daily Advisor says you may not be able to predict emergencies, but you have to be prepared for them.
Recent tragic disasters have certainly made it clear that no company, no matter how large or small and no matter the location, is safe from unexpected disaster. Terrorism, fire, tsunami, hurricane, or flood-the list seems endless, and no one is invulnerable.
Some disasters are predictable. For example, if you have a facility in a flood-prone area, you should be prepared for a flood. Some disasters are not so predictable-for example, a terrorist attack or an unprecedented weather emergency.
Even in these unforeseeable situations, however, general planning can help organizations deal with the challenge. For example, if your disaster plan includes alternate communications methods and an alternate worksite, you'll be prepared on those fronts for many types of disasters.
Develop a plan
First, you have to identify potential problems and develop courses of action that you could take. There are, of course, many types of emergencies. However, there are a few common categories that cover most situations.
Medical emergency. This can be a severe accident, or a heart attack, or an exposure to a hazardous material, for example.
Severe weather. This could be anything that relates to a take-shelter type of incident where you don't want to send employees outside.
Fire/evacuation. In this scenario, you need to get people to leave the building.
It's a Partnership
Get a relationship established with your fire marshal, the fire department, and the EMS. These are the folks who are going to have to respond if you have an incident, so it's good for them to know about the layout of your property and who your emergency manager is. They should also be briefed on specific hazards at your facilities, such as the presence of explosives, hazardous materials, and so on.
Also, get to know the local emergency manager. He or she is responsible for responding to a community-wide type of disaster or incident. Typically, part of that person's responsibility is to help the local businesses in the area prepare for disasters and other emergencies.
Updating Is Critical
Once there is a plan, the biggest challenge is keeping it updated. For example, the plan needs to be updated to reflect:
Changes in emergency contact personnel and phone numbers, both inside the facility and outside the facility
New chemicals, substances, or processes
New equipment
Changes in exit routes, locations of fire-fighting materials, first-aid equipment, etc.
Daily Inspections Are the Final Check
To make sure things are current, have employees do pre-shift inspections of their work areas. For example, they can make sure that there is, in fact, a fire extinguisher hanging on the hook with the locator sign, and that it's not only there, but that it's charged, it's in the green, it's been inspected, and it hasn't been used and moved somewhere else.
Employees can also check for blocked exits, locked doors, and whatever else they depend on in their particular worksite.
Training Is a Must
Train your employees about your emergency plan. You should be able to document that you have done the training, and that employees know what to do and where to go. Agency inspectors like to see that there has been some form of a drill.
Where to Go for Help
You can also check with the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), which is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It offers instruction on how to do emergency planning and how to do a plan. There are a lot of resources available on the EMI website, fema.gov. They can provide you with basic outlines of plans, information on how to start the planning process, and how to conduct a risk analysis.
You may want to read FEMA's Emergency Management Guide for Business and Industry. It is a free book and is downloadable from the FEMA website. It shouldn't overwhelm you, but give you some direction and some things that you can do regardless of your type of facility.
Consider reaching out to the local emergency manager in your area. That person could provide you with additional guidance, which is particularly helpful because where FEMA information is national, a local emergency manager can provide you with information on the requirements within your jurisdiction to make sure you're in compliance locally, as well as nationally.
And, don't forget your insurance carrier. It is another good source of help, and your carrier is going to be as interested in employee protection as in your equipment, products, and materials. The carrier usually has some templates or other aids available to help you design your own materials.
This is a Nonconformity
Auditors are trained on how to ask interview
questions, but they may not be as well
trained on how to let someone know about a
nonconforming situation. Let's look at some
examples.
1. "You're nonconforming. I'm going to
have to write you up."
Well, the person isn't nonconforming. This
statement sounds like the person is defective
and may need to be scrapped. It is the
process that is nonconforming, not the
person. And, don't make it personal by saying
you will write the person up. You are fact
finding, not fault finding.
A better statement might have been:
Records show the process is not being
carried out according to the planned
arrangements. Since the process requirements
aren't being met, this is a nonconformity.
2. "You really screwed up this time.
Better update your resume."
Again, don't make it personal, and especially
don't make it sound career-ending. An audit
should be a penalty-free learning opportunity
and a catalyst for improvement.
A better statement might have been:
This activity is being performed
differently than the applicable procedure.
Unless there is an authorized reason for the
difference, this is a nonconformity.
3. "This is a BIG problem. How do you
spell your name?"
Nonconformity statements should be written
with reference to job titles, not individual
names. Keep the focus on the process, not the
person.
A better statement might have been:
This product is stored in a different
location than called for by the work
instruction. Unless this change has been
approved, storing the product in the wrong
location is a nonconformity.
4. "Why did you do it that way? Were you
trained to cause problems?"
Nonconformities are rarely caused on purpose.
Don't make things worse with attempts at
sarcastic humor. You want the person to
understand the problem, not become defensive.
A better statement might have been:
The document is obsolete and not suitably
marked to prevent its use as the current
version. This is a nonconformity because the
document control procedure is not being
followed.
5. "What were you thinking? This is a
serious violation."
A violation does sound serious, like a legal
infraction. Will jail time be involved? Our
choice of words can cause a person to react
in a negative manner. Don't overstate the
situation.
A better statement might have been:
The procedure calls for a final product
check before shipment. There are no records
indicating this required activity was
performed, therefore it is a nonconformity.
While these verbal re-statements may be
acceptable, the written versions should be
reported with more details. The nonconformity
report should state the specific requirement
that is not being met, as well as, provide
objective evidence that it is a nonconformity.
Software Standards
The list below groups the ISO software and
systems engineering standards into categories
of life cycle, governance, foundation, body
of knowledge and professionalism, process
implementation, assessment and certification,
product characteristics, and tools and
methods. You can see a description of each
standard at the ISO website.
Life Cycle
Software Engineering
ISO 12207, ISO 90003, ISO 15271 Systems Engineering
ISO 15288, ISO/TR 19760, ISO 26702, ISO/TR
90005
vLife Cycle Management
ISO/DIS TR 24748 (Part 1), ISO/DTR 24748
(Parts 2-3) Very Small Enterprises
ISO/DIS ISP 29110 (Parts 2, 4), ISO/DTR 29110
(Parts 1-3)
Governance
Quality System
ISO 9001 Governance
ISO/NP 29151, ISO 38500
Foundation
Vocabulary
ISO 24765 Process Description
ISO/TR 24774
BOK and Professionalism
SWEBOK
ISO TR 19759 Certification
ISO 24773, ISO/CD 29154
Process Implementation and
Assessment
Documentation
ISO 6592, ISO 9127, ISO/TR 9294, ISO 15289,
ISO 15910, ISO 18019, ISO/CD 26511, ISO/FCD
26512, ISO 26513, ISO 26514 Requirements and Architecture
ISO/CD 29148, ISO 42010 Risk and Integrity
ISO 15026, ISO 16085 Testing
ISO/NP 29119 Software Maintenance
ISO 14764 Project Management
ISO 16326 Measurement
ISO 15939, ISO/FCD 29155
Assessment and Certification
Process Assessment
ISO 15504, ISO/NP 29169 IT Service Management
ISO 20000, ISO/NP Asset Management
ISO 19770
Product Characteristics
Software Quality
ISO 9126, ISO 14598, ISO 14756 Software Quality - SQuaRE
25000 Series Software Functional Size Measurement
ISO 14143, ISO 19761, ISO 20926, ISO 20968,
ISO 24570, ISO 29881
Tools and Methods
Legacy Standards
ISO 3535, ISO 5806, ISO 5807, ISO 8631, ISO
8790, ISO 11411, ISO/TR 12182, ISO/TR 14759 Tools, Methods, Environment
ISO 14102, ISO/TR 14471, ISO 15940, ISO/TR
18018, ISO 23026, ISO/CD 29118, ISO/TR 24766 Specifications
ISO 10746, ISO 13235, ISO 14750, ISO 14752,
ISO 14753, ISO 14769, ISO 14771, ISO 15414,
ISO 19500, ISO 19770 Modeling
ISO 8807, ISO 15437, ISO 19501, ISO/FCD
19505, ISO 15909, ISO 19793, ISO 24744 Interchange
ISO 14568, ISO 15474, ISO 15475, ISO 15476,
ISO/DIS 19506
4th Edition of MSA
The Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) Reference Manual, 4th Edition is now available. It was jointly developed by Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Company to provide guidance to their automotive suppliers.
The purpose of the document is to present guidelines for assessing the quality of a measurement system. The manual is not intended to be a compendium of analyses for all measurement systems. Its primary focus is measurement systems where the readings can be replicated on each part. Customer approval is required for measurement systems analysis methods not covered in this manual.
You can begin using the 4th Edition of the MSA reference manual immediately. The 240 page document can be ordered at this web page of the AIAG web site. The electronic version can be ordered at this web page.
Whittington & Associates provides training, consulting and auditing services for
management systems based on
ISO 9001, ISO/TS16949, TL 9000, AS9100, ISO 13485,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, and ISO 14001.
