Quality Management system

The ISO-based Quality Management System of the Nuclear Power Plant
Fire Service

The Nuclear Power Plant Fire service in its present form has been in service since 1990 on the area of the nuclear power plant. As a consequence of a change in legal regulations in 1994, the industrial fire service was reorganized and the earlier mobile fire and damage prevention belong to ATOMIX Ltd., within the Fire-fighting and Damage Removal Division called as Nuclear Power Plant Fire Service.
Operational and constitutional conditions of our Fire Service comply with the requirements of professional fire services.
In 1990, when our Fire Service acquired was the first among European Fire Services that got a certificate which met the requirements of ISO 9002:1994 standard, we arrived at a new milestone.
Due to the periodical supervision of the standards, the changeover audit in 2001 was already completed according to the new standard MSZ EN ISO 9001:2001 and the document renewal audit in December 2002.

In 2003 and 2004, we revised and improved our system. The improvement consisted in revisions and necessary amendments to various documents prompted by the changing requirements imposed by our customer on the suppliers. We have integrated the requirements for the new suppliers in our own system that we subject to the customer for attestation in 2004. We received the certificate a year after the first audit, while the next one three years later in 2006.

Certification by the independent institute, Első Magyar Tanúsító Kft. (First Hungarian Certification Institute Ltd.), in 2004 was a certificate renewal audit. We received renewed certificates after three years but we couldn’t stop working since then as our system was subjected to inspection again within the frames of supervisory audits in 2005 and 2006. Thanks to our permanent efforts these inspections resulted in a total success. We would like to keep this trend going on in the future too. Accordingly, our endeavour is to satisfy our customers’ needs as completely as possible. In order to maintain customers’ satisfaction, we set the quality policy objectives:
- To increase customer satisfaction by continuous development of the quality and reliability of our fire-fighting and damage-removal services
- To provide complex solutions when providing services
- To comply with the customers’ ordinary and nuclear technical and organizational requirements, to satisfy permanently the quality requirements of customers, including the Paks Nuclear Plant Co. Ltd.
- To follow the EU technical, quality and legal norms at any time
- To keep the economic benefits of both the customer and ATOMIX Ltd. jointly in mind.

The new standard has been issued under no. MSZ EN ISO 9001:2009 in 2009. The entire documentation had to be revised for the changeover to the new Standard. External auditors have conducted the revision audit under the new name “First Hungarian Auditor Co.” in December 2009. As a successful result of our permanent work of long years, they have not experienced any deviation that might interfere with operation, i.e. the audit has been completed with a positive outcome for us. We would like to maintain this high standard of work for the coming years, too.

Principles of quality management

In order to establish a quality management system, in addition to comply with the items of the relevant standard, further aspect should also be taken into consideration. These aspects might render assistance not only when establishing but also when developing our quality management system.
The successful management and operation of an organization requires a systematic and transparent management and regulation system. The success might arise from introduction and maintenance of such a management system which is established so that it could develop operation in the light of the demands of all the parties concerned. The management of an organization includes also quality management, in addition to other branches of management.
There have been conceived eight principles for quality management which could be used by the top management to develop operation of the organization.

The eight principles are, in particular:

1. The customer in the centre
Organizations depend on their customers so it is important for them to understand the current and future demands of their customers, to meet the requirements of their customers, and to strive to surpass the expectations of their customers.
2. Management
It is the management which creates the unity of the goals and the management of the organization. It should create and maintain such an internal environment in which the staff could fully participate in achieving their goals.
3. Involvement of the staff
Each organization is based essentially on its staff whose entire involvement allows utilization of their faculties to the benefit of the organization.
4. Process approach
A desired goal could be achieved more efficiently if the related activities and resources are managed as a process.
5. System approach in management
Identification, understanding and management of interrelated processes as a system could contribute to successful and efficient implementation of the organization’s goals.
6. Continuous development
Continuous development of the total operation of an organization should be a permanent goal of the organization.
7. Decision-making based on facts
Successful decisions are based on analysis of data and other information.
8. Mutually advantageous relations with suppliers
The organization and its suppliers mutually depend on each other and their mutually advantageous relations might enhance the value-creating ability of both of them.

With the customer in the centre

Customers demand products with such characteristic features which meet with their demands and expectations. Such demands and expectations are expressed in requirements for products, called collectively as customers’ requirements. Such customers’ requirements may be stipulated in a contract or may be laid down by the organization itself. Ultimately, in both cases, it is the customer who will determine acceptability of the product. Customers’ demands and expectations change from time to time and the pressure arising from competition and the technical progress should also be taken into account; it stimulates the organization to develop its products and process on a continuous basis.
The approach applied in the quality management system stimulates the organizations to analyze customers’ requirements, to determine the processes which contribute to manufacturing products acceptable for the customers, and to maintaining such processes in a regulated state. The framework for continuous development might be provided by the quality management system by which customers’ satisfaction could be enhanced. It inspires confidence of the organization itself and its customers in the organization’s ability to manufacture such products which could uniformly comply with requirements.

Quality policy and quality goals

Quality policy and quality goals are conceived with the view to give the focal point of management of the organization. These determine the desired results and assist the organization in using its resources for achieving the results. The quality policy provides a framework for setting and revising the quality goals.
The quality goals should be in harmony with the quality policy and the commitment towards continuous development. Achievement of quality goals should be eligible for measuring. Achievement of the quality goals might favourably affect product quality, success of operation, and financial efficiency and, indirectly, also the satisfaction and confidence of the parties concerned.

Value of documentation

Documentation allows communication about the objective and harmony of activities.
Its use facilitates:
- compliance with customers’ requirements and development of quality,
- providing for the appropriate training,
- repeatability and traceability,
- providing for objective evidences, and
- evaluation of the efficiency and continuous suitability of the quality management system.

Documentation should be a value-increasing and not an autotelic activity.

Evaluation of quality management systems, self-evaluation

Regular and systematic evaluation of the suitability of the quality management system, its compliance with the relevant goals, its success and efficiency for the purposes of implementation of the quality policy and achievement of the quality goals is one of the roles of the top management. Such investigation might cover also such considerations that the quality policy and the quality goals should be adjusted to the demands and expectations of the parties concerned. The investigation includes also determining the necessary measures.

Upon evaluation of the quality management systems, four fundamental issues should be clarified in respect of each process to be evaluated. In particular:
- Whether the process has been defined and appropriately described?
- Whether the responsibilities have been distributed?
- Whether the relevant processes have been introduced and whether they are maintained?
- Whether the process is suitable for achieving the required results?

The answers to these questions might determine the result of evaluation collectively. A quality management system might be evaluated in different scopes and might include various activities, such as audit and investigation of the quality management system and self-evaluations.
Self-evaluation of an organization consists in an overall and systematic investigation of the organization’s activities and results, compared to a quality management system or an excellence model.
Self-evaluation might provide an overall review on the success of the organization and the degree of matureness of its quality management system. It might assist in revealing the areas of an organization where development is needed and in determining priorities.

Continuous development

The continuous development of the quality management system is aimed at enhancing the satisfaction of customers and other parties concerned as well as the likeliness of enhancement of such satisfaction. Development will include the following:

- analyzing and evaluating the current situation in order to determine the areas to be developed,
- setting the goals of development,
- searching the possible solutions to achieve those goals,
- evaluating these solutions and selecting the solution,
- introducing the selected solution,
- measuring, checking, analyzing and evaluating the results of introduction in order to determine whether such goals have been achieved,
- ordering official changes.

The results are investigated as is necessary for determining the opportunities for further development. In such a way, development will become a continuous activity. Feedbacks from customers and other concerned parties as well as the audit and investigation of the quality management system can also be used for revealing development opportunities.