Report to: General Committee Date
Report Authored:
SUBJECT: 2009 Quality Management System Management Review Outcomes
PREPARED BY: Eddy Wu, P.Eng. x 2737
Waterworks Quality Management System Controller
RECOMMENDATION:
1) That the report “2009 Quality Management System Management Review Outcomes” be received;
2) That Council, as the Owner of the Town’s drinking water system, acknowledge and support the outcomes and action items identified from the 2009 Management Review meeting;
3) That Council, as the Owner of the Town’s drinking water system, is informed that the Town has received the new Municipal Drinking Water License (MDWL) and the new Drinking Water Works Permit (DWWP) from the Ministry of Environment (MOE), which replaced the MOE Certificate of Authorization for the Town’s Drinking Water System;
4) And that Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Not applicable
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to:
1. Update the Owner on the status of the 2008 Management Review action items;
2. Communicate outcomes from the 2009 Management Review to the Owner
BACKGROUND:
Element 20 of the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS) requires a Management Review is conducted at least once every twelve (12) months.
The Management Review attendees consisted of the Corporate Top Management:
· Chief Administrative Officer
· Commissioner of Community and Fire Services
· Director of Operations
· General Manager of Waterworks
And the Operational Top Management:
· General Manager of Waterworks
· Waterworks Manager of IMS
· Waterworks Manager of Infrastructure
· Waterworks Manager of Operations & Maintenance
· Waterworks Manager of System Engineering
· Waterworks QMS Controller
· Waterworks Training Coordinator
It is required by DWQMS that the outcomes from the Management Review are reported to the Owner.
The agenda of the Management Review is arranged in order to meet the DWQMS Element 20 requirements. Items included the review of action items identified from the previous meeting, compliance results, consumer feedbacks, operational performances, audit information, changes impacting the QMS and resources need. Corporate Top Management reviews all the data, and provides directions to Operational Top Management in order to move forward.
The Owner has the overall responsibility and authority to ensure that the Town meets all legislation and regulatory requirements. The Owner also has the responsibility and authority to provide infrastructure and Quality Management System (QMS) resources as required and agreed upon with the designated Top Management Therefore, it is very important for the Owner to be aware of the Management Review outcomes.
It was Waterworks’ intention to bring the Management Review in line with the budget process. However, due to delay of the external accreditation audit, Waterworks was unable to meet this goal in 2009. Next year, Waterworks will be trying to schedule the Management Review meeting earlier in order to accommodate the Town’s budget process. This will provide more useful input to the Management Review, for further discussions with the Corporate Top Management.
OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:
The 2009
Management Review was conducted on
Due to the vacancy of the Waterworks Operations and Maintenance Manager position, the two Acting Operations & Maintenance Managers attended this meeting to review the operational performance of the drinking water system. The Compliance Engineer was also in attendance on behalf of the Manager of System Engineering, as the Manager of System Engineering was on bereavement leave.
Minutes of the meeting are maintained by the Waterworks QMS Controller. Below are the key highlights from the 2009 Management Review meeting:
1.
Action items review
Action items from the 2008 meeting were reviewed and the status of each action item was updated. Out of the sixteen (16) action items identified in 2008, six (6) action items are not closed off and are carried forward to become new action items. The 2008 Action Items Summary with the updated status of each action item is listed in Attachment “A”. The main reasons for the carry over of action items are due to lack of responses from other parties involved in order to resolve the action item, or further actions were deemed necessary during the meeting. Therefore these further actions are to be carried out in the coming year.
From the 2009 meeting, another thirteen (13) new action items were raised. This brings the total number of action items to nineteen (19). All these action items are listed in Attachment “B”, and as of today two (2) of these action items are already completed.
2.
QMS audit methodology and results
One of the
changes implemented this year was the QMS internal audit methodology. It was identified as one of the action items
from the 2008 meeting. The QMS internal audit in 2009 has been conducted on the
“by-element” approach, where selected QMS elements are audited each month.
Comparing to the “by-section” approach being used last year, the preparation is
less intensive. This method also provides more time for the internal auditors
to prepare and conduct the internal audits, and therefore it is deemed more
appropriate. A mock external audit was also performed by inviting the Town of
As of the end of
August 2009, six (6) internal audits and two (2) external audits have been
completed by the Town’s QMS internal auditors. The internal audits have already
audited fifteen (15) of the twenty-one (21) DWQMS elements, and the remaining six
(6) DWQMS elements are to be audited in the remaining part of 2009. Other than
the mock external audit conducted by the Town of Richmond Hill QMS Program
Coordinator as mentioned above, the accreditation audit was also completed in
July 2009. The external auditor from the accreditation body Canadian General
Standards Board (CGSB) has conducted the two day audit and recommended that the
Town is accredited for Full Scope – entire DWQMS accreditation. Following to this recommendation, the Town has
received the official accreditation status from CGSB as of
In summary from the internal audits, three (3) minor nonconformances and twenty-one (21) opportunities for improvement have been raised. All nonconformances have been addressed at this point, with proper corrective actions in place. The opportunities for improvement are subjective from the auditor’s point of view, strictly for continuous improvement purpose . All section managers have been reviewing the opportunities for improvement received, and have been implementing actions for improvement when deemed applicable.
From the external accreditation audit, no nonconformance has been identified and ten (10) opportunities for improvement have been addressed. Most of these improvements are already in place, and the remaining improvements were all addressed as action items in the 2009 Management Review meeting.
3.
QMS Processes automation
With the
implementation of the QMS Management Software and the Mobile Work Management
System, several QMS processes will become more automated in the coming year.
The new technologies are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of several
critical QMS processes such as document and records control. A lot of the
current manual processes will be replaced and many QMS aspects will become more
transparent.
4.
Staff and consumer
suggestions collection processes
A new process is now in place to collect staff suggestions as well as collection of consumer feedbacks from activities that affect the consumers. The goal is to improve the response rate with the new process in place. Waterworks Operational Top Management has been reviewing suggestions collected on a monthly basis, and actions are to be taken in order to resolve any issues identified by staff or consumers.
5.
Resource needs
As required by DWQMS, Management Review meeting is the venture where Operational Top Management identifies resource needs in order to maintain the QMS, water system license, efficiency and compliances. The resources needs are either staffing, equipment or work spaces required in order to support future growth. Detailed resource needs are attached in Attachment “C” of this report.
In the meeting, Corporate Top Management has provided directions to Operational Top Management for all resource requests, and they are being tracked as action items. The resource needs will be addressed and presented through the budget process.
Next Step
After communicating all the outcomes from the Management Review to the Owner’s attention, the Waterworks QMS Controller will be monitoring the progress of each identified action item. Waterworks QMS Controller will follow up with the champion of each action item, to ensure appropriate actions are taken in order to resolve the issue. Records will be updated and reviewed in the next Management Review to ensure the action items be resolved, or to be carried over to next year.
The QMS internal audit program will continue to perform as planned. However there will be no more external on-site audit from the accreditation body CGSB until 2012 when the Town needs to renew the accreditation. In the next two years, the external audit will be in the format of a desk audit only, where only requested documentations are to be sent for desk audit purpose. As noted in the CGSB final audit report, “it is necessary the Operating Authority to notify CGSB of any changes of the QMS that the Operating Authority believes that are significant enough to risk non-conformity with DWQMS: Oct. 2006” during this annual desk audit. Examples of critical changes include:
· Substantial changes to the Operational Plan, any System Level Document or any critical QMS process
· Change of governance to the Town’s drinking water system
· Insufficient, reduced or modified staff, equipment and funding sources that could impact the Town’s drinking water system
The results from
the annual Management Review, with the status of all action items identified,
will also become part of the annual submission to CGSB, in order for CGSB to assess
if the Town’s QMS remains in compliance during the annual desk audit.
FINANCIAL
CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE:
(external link)
Not applicable
HUMAN RESOURCES CONSIDERATIONS
New staffing requirements were identified in the Management Review meeting and the detail of each new staffing requirement is listed in Attachment “C” – Resources Need Summary. Business Case for each new staffing request has been prepared and already forwarded to the Commissioner of Community & Fire Services for inclusion into the 2010 budget process and approval.
ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:
Municipal Services – QMS is a requirement for the Town to achieve the new Municipal Drinking Water License. The Town must become and remain as an accredited Operating Authority in order to continue operating the Town’s drinking water system. Performing the Management Review and communicating the outcomes from the Management Review to the Owner is required in order for the Town to remain in compliance to DWQMS. This is crucial in order for the Town to be able to continue providing the same high level of drinking water to the Town’s consumers.
BUSINESS
UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
Not applicable
The undersigned represent the Corporate Top Management of Town of Markham’s Drinking Water Distribution System. By signing below the Corporate Top Management of the Operating Authority has reviewed the outcomes and action items identified from the 2009 Management Review, and hereby recommend these outcomes and action items to be brought forward to the Owner’s attention.
RECOMMENDED
BY: ________________________
Jerry Klaus
General Manager, Waterworks
________________________
Peter Loukes, P.Eng.
Director, Operations
________________________
Brenda Librecz
Commissioner, Community and Fire Services
________________________
John Livey
Chief Administrative Officer
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment “A” – 2008 Management Review Action Items Summary
Attachment “B” – 2009 Management Review Action Items Summary
Attachment “C” – Resources Need Summary
Q:\Commission Share\Operations and Asset
Management\Reports\2009\Waterworks\QMS\2009 QMS Management Review Outcomes.doc