DPWH Southern Leyte hopes to get ISO 9001:2015 certification

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, March 7 (PNA) -- Key officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways - Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) will undergo series of training in the next two months in their bid to pass the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 standard by October 2017.

District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia made the pronouncement after the recent ISO benchmarking at the DPWH 4th Leyte District Engineering Office in Ormoc City, the first district office of the department in the region to comply with the ISO 9001:2008 standards.

“We got lots of ideas on how and where to start and what to do. We have already started long ago the 5S, but we need refinement,” Junia said.

The 5S are sort, systemise, sanitize, standardize, and self-discipline.

The SLDEO formed a core team to undergo series of trainings until April this year, for the ISO 9001:2015 standard, moving higher than the older ISO 9001:2008 version. 

This is in preparation for the audit from the Development Academy of the Philippines, Internal Audit Service, and from a 3rd party.

Although the DPWH Southern Leyte office was not included as pilot for ISO certification, they have already started the process last year. 

In Eastern Visayas, the DPWH offices required to pilot ISO certification last year are the regional office in Palo, Leyte and 4th Leyte district engineering office. This year, they have to upgrade from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015.

Compared to ISO 9001:2008, the new ISO 9001:2015 published on Sept. 23, 2015, strives to give additional momentum to the continuous and systematic improvement of processes within organisations.

ISO 9001 is the world’s most popular and most commonly used standard for quality management systems. 

As part of its journey to ISO 9001, the SLDEO has been working to help employees familiarize and even memorize the DPWH vision, mission, core values and quality policy.

Printed copies were posted in strategic areas of every section. 

“We have set up our front desk to entertain queries of clients. Directional signs have been put in place to guide them. At the end of their transaction, we ask them to fill up the customer satisfaction survey form. This is one way to find out how people see our service,” Junia said. 

All employees are asked to clear their working desk from any eye sores such as photos, calendars, and notes. After work, employees should ensure that their desks are clutter-free.

This initiative is part of the 5S technique to clean and organize workspace. 

Junia also assured that the designs and set up of their new two-storey building is ISO compliant. The structure, which is now under construction, has a floor area of 525 square meters. 

It will rise within the 10,000-square meter Area Equipment Service compound in Barangay Ibarra, this city, and expected to be completed within this year. 

These initiatives support the DPWH’s expression of commitment to public service quality as it developed a department-wide ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System. 

DPWH has set eyes on ideas about best practices it can adopt for process improvement to comply and be recognized for conforming to internationally accepted standards.(PNA)
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