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By Ben Ransom, CGM, DEL-JEN, Inc.

Grounds management is serious business. It is the first thing people notice as they approach a property. Are you inviting people to venture in or are you unknowingly pushing them away? A successful grounds program attains its various levels of success based on commitment, drive and continuous improvement. You cannot continue in a progressive manner if you are depleting your resources without replenishing. A broken mower mows no grass. Properly scheduled maintenance and a replacement timetable will keep your equipment operational, but is this enough in today’s competitive market? Step back and visualize what you can do beyond minimal necessities. For some it may be as simple as committing to maintaining clean well painted equipment, a properly attired crew with positive attitudes or a raised level of awareness and pride in workmanship. For others it may require a new strategy for promoting and expanding your business or your department’s funding, offering new services to customers or improving relations with your organization’s decision-makers through effective communication.

Regardless of one’s motivation, the key to acheiving goals is having an effective system in place. I encourage you to develop a simple system that is user-friendly and provides you and your customers valued results: an (International Organization for Standardization) ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Management System.

At DEL-JEN, Inc., we have implemented these programs at multiple sites bringing continuity and repeatable positive results to our processes resulting in a growing relationship with our customers and additional job opportunities. One such example is the Laughlin Air Force Base (LAFB) located nead Del Rio, Texas and home to the 47th Fighter Training Wing.

This base is also home to a wide variety of flora and fauna as well as the men and women that live and work there. Combining a rigourous flying, maintenance, and support schedule while maintaining an environmentally sound relationship with nature can be a daunting task. The employees of DEL-JEN, Inc. who support the Grounds Management efforts at LAFB are committed to doing just that.

Our grounds management operations run seamlessly with Facility Maintenance and Site Maintenance under the direction and supervision of Civil Engineering. This complexity and size, along with the scope of responsibilities (managing approximately 2,500 improved and semi-improved acres), requires a top-to-bottom commitment to our ISO program structure. ISO programs are designed to assist you in the decision making process and allow you to properly manage your organization in a useful manner regardless of size and scope.

The key element in our ongoing success is our commitment to continuous improvement as emphasized by the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System (QMS), which requires the development of a Quality Manual. Each section of the ISO Standard calls out what is required of the organization while the manual explains how the organization accomplishes each of those requirements. The manual will also reference any supporting documentation that may be required within the program.

This documentation may be defined as Processes, Procedures, Operating Instructions, Forms and Checklists. A Process, Procedure or Operating Instruction should contain a SCOPE, TERMS/DEFINITIONS, RESPONSIBILITIES, PROCEDURAL STEPS and APPROPRIATE AUTHORIZING SIGNATURES. The ISO Standard allows for developmental individuality and is designed to accommodate any type or size of organization. If you are providing a service not a product you may supplement the word service for product wherever the word product is stated within the ISO Standard. Keep in mind the ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Standard does place some documentation requirements on the organization; so obtain a copy of it and follow the instructional requirements closely.

I encourage you to develop a simple system that is user-friendly and provides you and your customer valued results. I suggest developing documented procedures for each of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard sections (4 through 8) to provide continuity within the program. If you do not provide a design element within your organizational structure you may eliminate section 7.3 from the scope of your program. It is important to interpret the ISO Standard as it relates to your duties and activities. Say what you do and do what you say!

Taking the next step in ISO program development includes the natural inclusion of the ISO 14001:96 Environmental and OSHAS 18001 Health & Safety Standards. Here again the development of documented procedures depicting how an organization accomplishes the various ISO Standard requirements is necessary. Keep in mind the ISO 14001:96 Environmental and OSHAS 18001 Safety Standards also place a few documentation requirements on the organization as well. So again, obtain a copy of each standard and follow the instructional requirements closely.

Here is a hint. To save a lot of time and effort you may reference some elements of the ISO 14001:96 Environmental and the OSHAS 18001 Safety programs into the ISO 9001:2000 Quality program. Simply modify the scope of the ISO 9001:2000 procedures to include provisions for the other two.

For example:
1. Combine control of documents
2. Combine control of records
3. Combine management review
4. Combine competence, training and awareness
5. Combine monitoring and measurement
6. Combine nonconformance, corrective and preventive action
7. Combine auditing
8. Combine communication

Provide a well structured document listing so you know where things go and which documented procedures provide multiple tasking.

Now after all this hard work has been completed you may ask yourself, what was the point? Not only will you benefit in the short and long run from a well structured and highly effective management system, this operation is highly marketable. If you want to bid on additional projects or expand your business opportunities your clients will know that they are dealing with a company that maintains the ISO philosophy of doing business. Your commitment to Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety excellence are well defined and recorded. Your ability to provide measured results and track customer satisfaction is sustainable. You have demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement and your operations are thoroughly planned by processes. Your workforce is well informed, well trained and performs their duties in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

There is no substitute for a well organized internationally recognized program. It will save you valuable time and resources and allow you the opportunity to focus your attention on meaningful improvements, customer satisfaction and increased profits. If you do not currently possess the budget requirements necessary to obtain 3rd party registration build your ISO systems anyway, allow them to mature and reap the benefits they have to offer now. You can seek registration later and you’ll have well established programs to show the Auditor when the time comes.

If you’re tired of endless pages of yellow legal pads lining your dashboard, frantically searching through thousands of business cards for that all important contact number or simply have no idea why expenses outweigh revenue each month I suggest you at least look at the ISO standards and consider the value they may possess for your company.

Feel free to visit the references below for assistance. Free downloads are available at some sites.

American Society for Quality: www.asq.org
ISO Translations: www.praxiom.com
ISO Registration: www.orion4value.com
ISO Standards: www.iso.org

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