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How to Handle Chaos in QHSE at Your New Job

You are excited about your new job, new opportunities, and new responsibilities, and feeling very energetic to get started. Perhaps the new company is growing and a completely new system has to be set up, or maybe you are taking over from the previous QHSE manager. After the first week, you come to the conclusion that there is total chaos in QHSE management, so where should you begin? Let’s help you out to create structure in the chaos. 

1. Centralizing

Make sure everything within the QHSE space of the company is centralized. This means that every document, SOP, checklist, NCR, etc all has to be in one central place and should be real-time accessible for every employee. We have written an article about setting up a cloud-based quality management system in 9 steps. This cloud-based benefit makes QMS centralized.

2. Collecting Data

Data is the main ingredient to show how the company improves on certain KPIs. However, collecting the data is usually a very time-consuming task, mainly done by quality control. To make it easier for the organization to share data, it should be relatively easy for employees to do so. A mobile app on mobile devices helps in this process. It’s much easier to share the information when you have all the necessary forms at your fingertips. This way, the QHSE department can focus on analyzing the data rather than having to push people to provide it. An open IT infrastructure that allows for sharing data between different systems is crucial in order to pull data from different sources.

Man on Ipad collecting data for QHSE on the blog post How to Handle Chaos in QHSE at Your New Job - Collecting Data

3. Training Employees

Especially when working on dangerous sites such as in construction, in heavy industries or offshore, it is extremely important to train employees on safety awareness. Being unable to focus during the day can cause serious accidents if people are working in dangerous environments. It is also important to train the people who observe and report unsafe situations and record them safely. Employees need to understand that sharing this information can help prevent certain situations at other times or other locations. When it comes to safety, great automation solutions allow you instantaneously file unsafe situations with your smartphone. It makes it easier for employees to file reports and increases their knowledge of these situations within their organizations. Make sure that the lessons learned from any safety incidents are shared with the employees so they can avoid similar situations in the future.

4. Analyzing Data

Analyzing the data properly is important. This isn’t just about drawing graphs; it’s also about interpreting the changes of the dataset over time. Different time periods could show interesting results. Furthermore, mapping out the different root causes will give you more insight into how to improve the company overall. It is important to experiment with the data and not just focus on the pre-defined KPIs. Plotting different variables against each other may give completely new insights.

Man analyzing data on the ipad on construction site

5. Communicating Results

Communicating the results of using data to improve QM is one of the most important aspects of using data for QM improvement. Not only to top management but to the employees within the company. Every employee helps by collecting data. When you involve them directly in the results of the analyses, they see the impact their actions had on the company immediately. This then makes them more willing to share again in the future and increases the awareness of the importance of QHSE within the company. 

The awareness comes with openness and willingness to learn and get better together. When somebody does something that could harm the quality, it is crucial that his/her colleague feels comfortable pointing this out. This openness and willingness to improve are at the root of the quality culture. To create this, you have to make sure that nobody is punished for making honest mistakes. This will keep people open to improvements. When this fundamental value isn’t there in an organization, it will be a big issue. We have seen this within the Boeing organization, as clearly shown in the Netflix Documentary.

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