Yes, Quality Managers
Do Have a Role in ISO 14001
by Gregory J. Hale and Caroline G. Hemenway
Organizations
are looking
to quality professionals
to help with
ISO 14001 implementation.
Well, you did it. You survived the three-day refresher course on ISO
9000 quality management systems auditing that the company "suggests"
you take each year to bone up on your quality system auditing skills. Now
you're motivated and anxious to apply some new systems management techniques
to line functions-but you may get more than you bargained for.
Rumor has it that the corporate office wants you to be a key member of the
ISO 14001 environmental management system implementation team. You ask yourself:
How can that be? I don't know the first thing about environmental regulations.
How could I possibly help implement an environmental system? I'm quality,
not environment, right?
Yes, but you know systems. Because of your systems background, you may be
the most valuable person on the implementation team. And, if you need motivation
to join, consider that this added value could translate into greater job
security, too.
Experts agree that employees familiar with quality management systems terminology
and procedures will be valuable when it comes to implementing an EMS such
as ISO 14001. Their skills in developing management systems elements, such
as policies and procedures, conducting and planning audits, and assessing
personnel knowledge and skills in management systems, will prove invaluable.
As companies explore the role of quality managers, some key questions emerge:
What roles will quality auditors and
environmental specialists assume in an EMS audit?
What new audit skills should quality
and environmental auditors possess?
What are the similarities and differences
regarding international guidelines for conducting audits?
Will ISO 9000 auditor certification
be compatible with ISO 14000 auditor certification?
How can the quality auditor contribute
added value to an EMS and its assessment?
Firsthand experience in these areas may be limited, but answers to some
of these questions are emerging and are addressed below.
Systems knowledge means teamwork
While quality professionals probably cannot carry the ISO 14001 implementation
load alone, they can be an excellent source of experience and expertise,
according to John Broomfield, president and CEO of Quality Management International
Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.
They know how to make the quality management system become the de facto
way of doing business. Broomfield says the modern quality and environmental
professional should possess the following skills:
Systems thinking-so today's solutions
don't become tomorrow's problems.
Systems design-to meet user requirements.
Systems development-including user.
Systems auditing-to target improvements
without creating fear.
Using systems-to achieve compliance
and continuous improvements in performance.
"Systems influence behavior by improving accountability, creating a
store of corporate knowledge and supporting the decision-making processes
where the work is done," explains Broomfield. "Systems structured
around the continuous-improvement spiral of the plan-do-check-act plan make
ISO 14001 a better model than even ISO 9004 quality management system guidance
for the management of quality."
Teamwork requires a holistic view
It is important to underscore distinctions in quality professionals based
on degree of experience and expertise, emphasizes Cal Maj, quality systems
leader for quality management systems of NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd., a large
petrochemical and gas pipeline company based in Alberta, Canada. A world
of difference lies between a quality professional with a master's degree
in business administration and a quality professional who has taken only
one or two QMS courses, he explains.
NOVA began implementing ISO 9002 at its petrochemicals sites in 1990 and
has six petrochemicals facilities certified under the standard. The company
is also implementing ISO 9002 in several of its gas pipeline facilities
but has not set a date for certification. Senior-level management is aware
of ISO 14001 implementation efforts but hasn't committed to pursuing certification,
notes Maj. NOVA plans to use ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 to create a firm infrastructure
for integrating other management systems elements.
Some quality professionals try to isolate the ISO 9002 implementation effort
instead of inviting staff from other departments to participate, says Maj.
This is a common occurrence in many fields.
"We want quality professionals who can present a holistic view for
implementing a management system such as ISO 14001 by enlisting the assistance
of other departments in the process," imparts Maj. "We are using
quality professionals who approach management systems implementation from
the process perspective as opposed to the product perspective.
"The ideal quality professional would have an engineering degree and
an MBA that would allow him or her to communicate the business advantages
of implementing a management system to other divisions. We want people who
are as skilled in influencing management as was necessary with ISO 9000
implementation."
NOVA's gas transmission division is implementing ISO 14001 and health-and-safety
requirements as part of the ISO 9002 effort. Waiting until now to implement
ISO 9000 provides facilities in the division a marked advantage because
NOVA can incorporate other disciplines into the overall quality management
system, according to Maj. Quality professionals possess a wealth of ISO
9000 implementation experience that can be modified for ISO 14001 implementation.
He offers the following examples:
Electronic documentation hierarchy-knowing
how to define a policy, procedures, records, etc. and differentiate among
management systems elements. For example, a flowchart or video clip could
be used as a procedure in place of text.
Job design-making sure that employee
job descriptions contain elements relating to total quality management in
the context of the organization.
Audit protocols-developing an
audit strategy, conducting the pre-audit meeting and facilitating the closing
interview.
"In many of our facilities, we have defined environment, health and
safety processes, but the trick will be to marry quality into the equation,"
says Maj. "We don't see the point in conducting four separate audits
when a multidisciplinary team could audit all systems at one time.
"We want the management systems requirements to be seamless. When grass-roots
employees perform daily tasks, we don't want them classifying those tasks
into environmental requirements, health-and-safety requirements and so forth."
For example, when an employee receives an underground storage tank, a quality
system requirement may call for the tank to be put on blocks so that it
doesn't touch the ground and compromise the tank's integrity. Also, an environmental
system requirement may dictate that a pressure release valve be attached
to the tank. Rather than classifying the tasks into categories, every employee
will perform these tasks as part of his or her regular responsibilities,
suggests Maj.
Samantha Munn, manager of environmental management systems business development
for registrar Inchcape Testing Services Intertek, says she witnesses intense
barriers between quality professionals and the rest of the organization
during some ISO 9000 audits. Having quality and environmental personnel
working together to implement ISO 14001 will help break down these barriers,
predicts Munn.
"Approaching management systems from an integrated standpoint allows
organizations to include representatives from all facets of the organization
on the implementation team," she notes. "But in order for it to
happen, the entire organization must undergo a culture change. No longer
can one person be the only source for management systems information; it
must be spread around the organization."
Scarcity of talent means more training
"Ideal" quality professionals are scarce, purports Craig Mesler,
president of Quality Management Solutions Inc. Most organizations will have
to teach quality auditors new skills and techniques if they are to be used
to implement and/or audit to ISO 14001. These new skills include:
Acquiring basic knowledge of environmental
laws and regulations.
Obtaining a cursory knowledge of environmental
science, e.g., chemistry, physics.
Learning how to determine what is and
isn't a significant environmental impact.
"Smaller companies won't have the luxury of employing separate people
for ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 implementation, and therefore these people will
be one and the same," explains Mesler. "Quality professionals
will be able to determine if the management system conforms to the standard's
requirements, but when it comes to judging continual improvement and appropriateness
of the policy, quality professionals will be at a disadvantage."
ISO 14001 third-party audits will not include a detailed compliance analysis,
but internal and second-party audits should include compliance information
in order to obtain the most value from the audit, stresses Mesler. Certain
traits are second-nature skills for most quality auditors and should prove
crucial during the ISO 14001 auditing phase. They include: interviewing
personnel, observing, questioning, analyzing, investigating, evaluating
and verifying. Organizations should look for individuals with these skills.
For example, Mesler recently visited a 300-employee plastics manufacturing
facility in Nevada that does not have a facility environmental manager.
Rather, the facility assigns the environmental compliance task to the human
relations person, and that person relies on the corporate office for help
in identifying applicable regulations. This facility is ISO 9001-certified
and will use ISO 9000 staff to implement ISO 14001. During the visit, Mesler
witnessed several ISO 14001 nonconformances, including outdated spill-prevention-control
countermeasures that ISO 9000 personnel will be called upon to upgrade.
The facility will use documentation control measures synonymous with ISO
9000 systems to develop its ISO 14001 processes.
"Most larger companies are already implementing ISO 14001-types of
procedures and processes, but if this standard will be worth anything, it
must be made applicable to smaller companies," says Mesler. "Most
people in smaller companies responsible for implementing ISO 14001 will
be wearing more than one hat, and some things will inevitably slip through
the cracks."
The role of the quality audits and quality auditors evolves continuously,
explains Mesler. At first, an organization's quality auditors were required
to assess vendors' compliance with purchase-order requirements. As quality
systems proliferated, the quality auditor's role expanded into a watchdog
function. Now initiatives such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 offer the opportunity
for these auditors to be part of a meaningful continuous improvement initiative,
he notes.
Experience means avoiding pitfalls
Eastman Kodak and Lucent Technologies, formerly AT&T MicroElectronics,
are among the companies seeing great benefits from using ISO 9000 personnel
during ISO 14001 implementation. The total quality management philosophy
that ISO 9000 people bring to the table is instrumental to the implementation
process, says Ted Polakowski, microelectronics environment and safety officer
and manager for Lucent. These people can advise environmental personnel
on what did and did not work during the ISO 9000 implementation process.
Lucent has designated personnel with ISO 9000 implementation experience
as company mentors when it comes to all aspects of the implementation initiative.
For example, an ISO 9000 coordinator will help choose the company's third-party
registration organization.
"Employees are looking to the ISO 9000 coordinator to impart knowledge
about documentation, audits, corrective action plans, etc.," explains
Polakowski. "With our vast experience in ISO 9000 implementation, we
expect to have a much steeper learning curve when it comes to implementing
ISO 14001.
"Our senior management has referred to ISO 14001 implementation as
the most important effort for the microelectronics division this year, and
it may well become part of the entire corporate strategy."
Lucent used to have large quality groups that focused on quality management
systems issues, but now quality is ingrained in each employee as part of
the job. Management will look to quality professionals for assistance in
accomplishing the same with environmental issues, confirms Polakowski.
John Stratton, a quality management consultant for Kodak's corporate quality
department, says having ISO 9000 experience within the corporation will
save the company time and money. It's a matter of extending or cloning the
wheel in the QMS area to address the environmental arena.
"The auditing process for ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 will be very similar,
and we are putting together multidisciplinary teams to address both subjects
during the same audit," says Stratton. "My advice to any organization
is: Don't duplicate elements where unnecessary; use systems and subsystems
whenever possible."
It's important to get the quality people and the environmental people talking
on the same wavelength early, stresses Stratton. Invite them to compare
similarities and differences in their functions and begin to work toward
a middle ground. Quickly, companies will notice that a management system
is a living and breathing entity which can incorporate other elements such
as health and safety, financial, risk assessment, etc.
Kodak and Lucent are fortunate because they have environmental people on
staff that understand environmental management in the context of systems.
While this may be true of several large companies, it is not the norm. Most
companies are struggling to identify compliance requirements and develop
strategies to remain in compliance with laws and regulations.
"If you don't have ISO 9000 experience, you will have a more difficult
path to implementing ISO 14001, but don't let that stop you," Stratton
advises. "Look to other organizations and the numerous quality management
tools that are available for assistance. It can be done."
About the authors
Caroline G. Hemenway is publisher of CEEM Information Services in Fairfax,
Virginia. Gregory J. Hale is associate editor of International Environmental
Systems Update, a monthly newsletter on ISO 14000 developments and implications.
CEEM publishes IESU and several other ISO 14000 and management systems products.
For more information, contact CEEM at (800) 745-5565 or (703) 250-5900;
fax (703) 250-4117.