Audits, performance assessments

Audits/Performance Assessments Problem Reporting System... 

Perform safety audits, performance assessments, and inspections using the hazard analysis results as the preconditions for operations and maintenance. Collect data to ensure safety policies and procedures are being followed and that education and training about safety is effective. Establish feedback channels for leading indicators of increasing risk. 

The need for documenting exceptions and how they are handled requires a series of features for audits performed by regulatory institutions or customers. Audits generally require a consistent traceability of observations, states, commitments, and corrective actions. An audit module not only reports these factors but also allows for scheduling internal assessments and audits including resource planning. 

Other advantages of the environmental audit is to allow time to properly assess the problem, plan its solution and allow for funding the capital cost required. There are potential problems in having an environmental audit performed. The results of recent court decisions indicate that the environmental audit results may not be able to be kept in confidence and furthermore, they may be used as evidence of noncompliance in civil or criminal court actions. It is conceivable that an audit can increase the potential liabilities. Consequently, management should be prepared to commit to satisfy any negative findings before the audit is undertaken. 

Deciding whether a company has carried out an audit will in turn depend to some degree on the company s own definition. A number of different types of audit have been identified. An environmental review is an initial analysis of the environmental issues, impact and performance related to activities at a site and should be seen as the first step in the audit programme. Following the review, a system audit will assess the effectiveness of the company s environmental management system. Other audits will cover particular sites, acquisition or divestment and the production impacts of making a specific product. 

To measure environmental performance to conduct regular environmental audits and assessments of compliance with company requirements, legal requirements, and these principles and periodically to provide appropriate information to the directors, shareholders, employees, the authorities and the public. ... 

System audits of the type discussed are more similar to the general GMP type of audits performed by the European authorities and also by the author of this work. When there is limited time, such as one or two days, to complete the audit of a large facility, then an audit of the QSs as a whole is a very powerful tool. If this is coupled with a product specific audit to challenge the operation of the systems, then this is even better for assessing the facility. 

Waste audits may be performed at the waste, product, or facility level. Waste-level audits simply require that each waste stream and its source be identified. Although this approach is the simplest, it ignores the implications and interactions of the waste stream as a whole. Waste audits performed at the product level are product life cycle inventory assessments, which are discussed in Section 4.3. Facility waste audits are the most common type of audit because most environmental laws require discharge reporting by facility. Estimating plant-wide emissions is discussed in Chapter 19. 

Three general types of feedback are commonly used audits and performance assessments reporting systems and anomaly, incident, and accident investigation. 

Once again, audits and performance assessments should start from the safety constraints and design assumptions and rationale. The goal should be to determine whether the safety constraints are being enforced in the operation of the system and whether the assumptions underlying the safety design and rationale are still true. Audits and performance assessments provide a chance to detect whether the behavior of the system and the system components still satisfies the safety constraints and whether the way the controllers think the system is working—as reflected in their process models—is accurate. 

Setting up a safety information system for a single project or product may be easier. The effort starts in the development process and then is passed on for use in operations. The information accumulated during the safety-driven design process provides the baseline for operations, as described in chapter 12. For example, the identification of critical items in the hazard analysis can be used as input to the maintenance process for prioritization. Another example is the use of the assumptions underlying the hazard analysis to guide the audit and performance assessment process. But first the information needs to be recorded and easily located and used by operations personnel. 

The results of the hazard analyses (hazard logs) and performance audits and assessments... 

Driver audits and assessment may be performed nsing trainer observation ride-along procedures when students are not on the school bns nnit. Standard routes for assessment will provide for most accurate driver comparisons and behavior responses. Video technology may be used for assessment after the initial trainer observation/assessment to assess any needed behavior adjnstments. Remedial training can be assigned or developed as a result of yearly training needs for the experienced and model drivers. 

Dupont committed to improving the reactor maintenance program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) based on the results of audits performed by the National Academy of Scientists and Engineers (NAS E) and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO). In February 1989, Dupont issued an SRS-wide Maintenance Improvement Plan identifying eight key elements that were in need of improvement. One of these elements was the performance of a self-assessment by the Reactor Maintenance Department based on the elements identified in INPO 85-038, Guidelines for the Conduct of Maintenance at Nuclear Power Stations (Reference 1). The self-assessment was to include a review of (1) work control procedures, (2) maintenance requests, (3) supervision of maintenance activities, (4) review of completed maintenance requests, (5) temporary repairs, and (6) control of contractor personnel. This assessment (Reference 2) was completed in January 19.90. The results of the assessment, which were compared against draft DOE Order 5480, established the foundation for the Reactbr Maintenance Improvement Plan (MIP)(Reference 3), which was issued the end of April 1990. 

The objectives of the audit are first to develop a baseline of the environmental performance of the facility, and then to assess one or more corrective actions (P2 activities) with attractive economics which improve environmental performance. 

Subcontractor/supplier performance will be evident from audit reports, surveillance visit reports, and receipt inspections carried out by you or the third party if one has been employed. You need to examine these documents for evidence that the subcontractor s quality system is controlling the quality of the products and services supplied. You can determine the effectiveness of these controls by periodic review of the subcontractor s performance what some firms call vendor rating . By collecting data on the performance of subcontractors/suppliers over a long period you can measure their effectiveness and rate them on a scale from excellent to poor. In such cases you should measure at least three characteristics quality, delivery, and service. Quality would be measured by the ratio of defective conforming products received delivery would be measured by the number of days early or late and service would be measured by the responsiveness to actions requested by you on scale of excellent to poor. The output of these reviews should be in the form of updates to the list of assessed subcontractors/suppliers. 

Customer complaints Warranty claims Failure analysis reports Process capability studies Service reports Concessions Change requests Subcontractor assessments Performance analysis Deviations and waivers Contract change records Quality cost data External Quality Audit records... 

As with audits, survey results form the basis of a facility-specific report for circulation to facility management and the PSM team. This report may follow the questionnaire format, with responses tabulated and analysis and commentary provided at the end. If necessary, baseline PSM assessments can be performed by a single individual using a survey method. 

Regardless of which assessment method you choose, assessors and auditors should take detailed notes using a common format to help capture maximum information in a consistent manner. Forms for questionnaires, topical outlines, and audit protocols (as shown in the exhibits) can perform double duty by providing interviewers with a format for notes as well as reporting. 

Some measures of PSM and ESH performance are easy to identify, establish and track. These include accident rates, effluent tonnages and composition and number of days lost to illness. Almost all of these traditional performance measures are end-of-pipe that is, they measure the output of the management system and allow corrective action only after a failure has occurred. The ideal measurement system identifies potential problems ahead of actual failure allowing corrective action to be taken. This requires using techniques such as audits and hazard assessments. 

The aforementioned reviews and assessments were assimilated to characterize the effect of dielectric, rotational, and mechanical hazards on motor performance and operational readiness. Functional indicators were identified that can be monitored to assess motor component deterioration caused by aging or other accidental stressors. The study also includes a preliminary discussion of current standards and guides, maintenance programs, and research activities pertaining to nuclear power plant safety-related electric motors. Included are motor manufacturer recommendations, responses from repair facilities to a questionnaire, in-service inspection data, expert knowledge, USNRC-IE audit reports, and standards and guides published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 

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