INNOVATION March-April 2016

p ract i ce

Organizational Quality Management Audit Process Assists Organizations

Lindsay Steele, P.Geo.

Organizations that employ professional engineers and professional geoscientists can take part in APEGBC’s voluntary Organizational Quality Management (OQM) program. The program helps organizations improve their quality management practices, reduce risk, and support their professional employees. One of the program’s benefits is site auditing—organizations certified under OQM consider site audits a benefit. Many people find the word “audit” frightening, picturing time- consuming processes and punitive outcomes. However, OQM audits are designed to be helpful and informative experiences. To ease the fear of auditing, we outline the OQM audit An organization’s first site audit ideally takes place within 18 months of the organization being OQM certified. Subsequent audits take place every five years, unless required sooner. The OQM auditors notify the OQM certified organizations of their proposed audit date two to three months beforehand. They coordinate with the organization to schedule the audit for a day that works for all parties. For organizations with multiple offices, a proportion of the total number of BC offices will be audited. For example, if an organization has four BC offices, an audit takes place at head office and one additional office. How long an audit lasts depends on the number of professionals working at that location, whether or not the organization is ISO:9001 compliant, and the number of auditors available at the time. No fees are associated with regularly scheduled audits. However, if an organization requests additional audits or if significant quality management issues are identified during an audit that require a site to be re-audited the next year, the organization pays for those audits. The Typical Audit Day Opening Meeting The auditing team begins the audit by meeting with the organization’s OQM representatives and invested parties to discuss the schedule, the purpose of the audit, confidentiality, and possible outcomes. Project Selection Before the day of the audit, the organization’s contact person is asked to have a list of projects, by department, available on the day of the audit. After the opening meeting, the auditors review the list and randomly select a number of projects to look at in detail. OQM Organizational Quality Management Program process and describe the typical audit day. Audit Process: General Information

Interviews The auditors interview the project manager/Professional of Record responsible for each selected project. The audit team looks at the organization’s processes and procedures as they relate to OQM. The auditors also speak with at least one Engineer-in- Training or Geoscientist-in-Training (EIT or GIT) to get his or her perspective on the OQM program, particularly in regards to direct supervision, one of the quality management requirements. The Report At day’s end, the auditors take about one hour to write their report. The report details the audit’s findings, describes the areas of practice that require improvement, and notes any exceptional or innovative quality management-related practices within the organization. An audit report may identify some or all of the following categories of areas for improvement: 1) Opportunities for Improvement (OFIs) . The auditors observe nothing wrong; however, there may be areas where risk can be mitigated. Opportunities for improvement do not require follow-up action. 2) Minor non-conformances (NCs). The auditors observe isolated or non-systemic issues that require follow-up action. 3) Major non-conformance (NCs). The auditors observe systemic issues that require follow-up action and possible re-auditing in 12 months. In some cases, non- conformances may lead to the organization’s OQM certification being revoked. If no non-conformances are found during the audit, the audit finishes at the end of the day. If the audit identifies minor or major non-conformances, the organization must prepare and send a corrective action plan to the auditors within 30 days, outlining the organization’s strategy for addressing the non-conformances. Closing meeting During the closing meeting, the auditors present their findings to the organization and review the audit report details and required follow-up action. Our experience shows that the OQM audit helps organizations identify where their quality management practices can be improved and provides a framework for making those improvements. This, in turn, helps organizations increase efficiencies and customer satisfaction, reduce risk, and support their professionals in meeting their professional requirements. Auditors frequently receive positive feedback on the audit process from organizations and—a true sign of how organizations value the OQM-audit experience—are regularly asked by organizations to conduct additional audits. For more information about APEGBC’s OQM program, see apeg.bc.ca/oqm. v

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