Quality management accountability

Figure 1.2 In a Total Quality Management system, all aspects of an enterprise, including managers, accountants, lab analysts, custodians, manufacturing personnel, researchers, production workers, and support stafff are focused on quality...

A well-designed QMS will include identified process owners with defined roles and responsibilities. Process owners require support from management, their customers, stakeholders, and quality assurance. Accountability and decision-making parameters will empower process owners to drive execution and improvements to their process, delivering the business results expected. Without these process owner attributes and support, minimal results will be achieved, and functional management will be burdened with and assume the responsibility for making decisions that should be in the hands of capable process owners. 

When the analytical laboratory is not responsible for sampling, the quality management system often does not even take these weak links in the analytical process into account. Furthermore, if sample preparation (extraction, cleanup, etc.) has not been carried out carefully, even the most advanced, quality-controlled analytical instruments and sophisticated computer techniques cannot prevent the results of the analysis from being called into question. Finally, unless the interpretation and evaluation of results are underpinned by solid statistical data, the significance of these results is unclear, which in turn greatly undermines their merit. We therefore believe that quality control and quality assurance should involve all the steps of chemical analysis as an integral process, of which the validation of the analytical methods is merely one step, albeit an important one. In laboratory practice, quality criteria should address the rationality of the sampling plan, validation of methods, instruments and laboratory procedures, the reliability of identifications, the accuracy and precision of measured concentrations, and the comparability of laboratory results with relevant information produced earlier or elsewhere. 

Implementation of a POCT service requires a POCT policy that establishes all of the procedures required to ensure the delivery of a high quality service, together with the responsibility and accountability of aH staff associated with the POCT. This may be (1) part of the organization s total quality management system, (2) part of its clinical governance policy,and (3) required for accreditation purposes.The elements of a POCT policy are listed in Box 12-5. 

The improved forecast techniques can be used in two ways. Firstly, it can be the short-term episode forecasts for the next few days. Secondly, it is an integrated modelling system for long-term air quality management to predict future episodic pollution levels, taking into account estimated trends in local traffic and other emissions. In both ways the modelling system can be employed to evaluate alternative scenarios and to develop efficient strategies to reduce emissions, pollution levels, and PE to prevent health consequences in a cost-effective way. 

Many food supply chains (FSC) act globally. Consequently, worldwide involvement, regulations, requirements, and consequences of actions and decisions need to be taken into account. These differences necessitate additional safeguard for guaranteeing food safety, like specific quality management systems or tracking and tracing systems (see e.g., [38]). 

The examples that have been briefly described above show that different quality management systems exist with different chain governance stmctures and coordination mechanisms. In developing supply chains with suitable structures not only the bi-lateral relationships between actors need to be taken into account, but also the upstream and downstream relationships to prevent suboptimal arrangements [53]. 

The third performance measurement is very important in determining a company s safety record and attitude. Companies that hold their project management accountable for accidents along with productivity, schedules, and quality, etc., are usually the ones that carry the best safety records. As with any safety program, a few of the things to be considered are... 

Juran on Planning for Quality. Management Controllable Defects Account for over 80%. Available at http //adamm62.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/ sitebuilderfiles/josephmjura. 

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