Milestone for EMSD section
THE attainment of ISO 9002 certification for a portion of one of its divisions simply marks the beginning of a process for the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD).
The Medical Electronics Projects and Procurement Sub-Divisions will officially receive the honour at a ceremony today.
'This first certificate is a milestone and we will be continuing to apply quality management on a selective basis to many department activities,' said Hugh Phillipson, the department's director.
The official ISO certification ceremony will take place at a Hong Kong hotel. Along with a presentation ceremony, speeches and a cocktail reception, there will be a mini-exhibition featuring articles and photographs of the department's work.
This is not the first government department to receive the internationally recognised certification for its quality system. That honour went to the Housing Department and then the Architectural Services Department.
'Our approach has been different because we are much wider-ranging in the services we do,' Mr Phillipson said. 'It is much more complicated to do the whole department at once.' The ISO 9000 system involves documenting procedures to ensure all aspects of a company's work are done properly by trained staff and with a focus on providing quality to the customer.
'Having a quality system doesn't mean we provide a service that is super-expensive or deluxe,' Mr Phillipson said. 'It means giving the quality that's absolutely right for the purpose and that's absolutely what the customer wants.' It took the 12-member Medical Electronics Projects and Procurement Sub-Divisions about 18 months to complete the certification process.
After several internal and external audits, they became certified in June.
'The quality management document underpins the quality system that you have got,' Mr Phillipson said. 'You keep working on it, building on it and redoing documents.
'It's an on-going process. I'm very proud that we have achieved this but, after the celebrations, it's 'keep your sleeves rolled up and continue with the work'. ' The two sub-divisions that are being jointly certified make up a small portion of the 170-member Medical Electronics Division.
In fact, the department has an overall staff of about 6,500. However, it has been decided to ease it into the process of ISO 9000.
'I certainly don't feel we should go wholesale into this quality management system all at once at this stage. Mr Phillipson said.
The Medical Maintenance Sub-division, Training Sub-division, Project and Waste Disposal Division and General Electronics Projects and Planning Sub-division have all started working towards certification.
