Quality & Standards QA - Assignment Example

?Introduction Quality assurance system is one of the major components in an organization. Irrespective of the type of organization, the concept of quality assurance becomes mandatory. The type of quality assurance system purely depends on the type of organization and the products they deal with. This helps the management to have a control over the entire organization and the operations in the organization. The department of quality assurance is entitled to make sure that the organization’s services are of better quality. Some organizations maintain a separate department, where as some organizations make use of quality assurance systems. These systems ensure that the quality is maintained in each and every operation of the organization. Fire and Rescue Services Fire and rescue service is an important part of a country’s public service department. A country provides various services to the general public and the residents of the country. Fire and rescue services are considered as an important one since the severance of the problems are comparatively high. Due to this factor, the country’s responsibility is more when compared to other services. When considering a country like U.K where the population is more, the government must incorporate certain unique strategies to maintain the quality of the services provided to the public. The recent change in the U.K government has given rise to various changes in the fire and rescue department. The political direction and the changes in the political system have also contributed to the changes in the existing system. These changes have led to a situation where the quality assurance system must be modified to suit the existing governmental needs. As the political direction has stated about the abolishment of comprehensive area, the quality assurance systems must be revived to suit the modifications. The local government inspections have also been abolished and this will create certain problems in the rescue services. (Breckford, 2002). Inspections are generally required to have a control over the problems that may occur in the future. Abolishment of inspection may lead to severe problems. Fire and rescue department also includes the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which provides complete information regarding the risks and the possibilities to mitigate the risks. It is mandatory for a country to implement an efficient risk management plan that helps the fire and rescue department to provide hassle free service. The probability of risk is more in this service and hence it is the responsibility of the government to implement a plan that would minimize these risks. Quality Assurance Systems The main aim of a quality assurance system is to make sure that the services provided by the organization or a particular department are reliable. (Flaudung, 1995). These quality assurance systems operate on the basis of a quality assurance plan prepared by the executives in the organization. The quality assurance plan includes the quality control measures and the steps to implement the quality assurance system. This plan helps the organization to implement each step in a preplanned manner. Each stage of quality assurance ensures that the process is implemented in a well defined way. (Grant, 1994). Quality assurance plan identifies the flaws in the system and proposes certain control measures to overcome the existing problems. The quality assurance system is designed and developed according to the needs and requirements of the organization. In this case, the fire and rescue department’s requirements are gathered well in advance to ensure that the system includes all the specified features. Site inspection is one of the important factors when considering the fire and rescue department. Periodical inspections will ensure safe and secured environment. The governmental participation is equally important in this service department. There has been a change in the UK government and this has led to the changes in the policies and regulations of the fire and rescue department. The responsibilities and operations of the system are defined well in advance to ensure that the system works effectively. Need for QA systems Quality assurance systems yield greater benefits to the organization which implements it. Most of the organizations incorporate several other strategies, but fail to include quality assurance systems. This delays the process of growth and overall development of the organization. The quality assurance system, when set out based on the key strategic objectives of a company, proves to be successful. It must be used only after analyzing the Integrated Risk Management Plan since the level of risk might become higher if the system is not properly selected. The quality assurance system not only helps in improvement and development, instead it makes the process of service an easier task. Since the required system is implemented based on the operations of the organization, the task of selecting and incorporating a specific plan becomes easy. U.K government makes use of certain quality assurance systems which yield benefits to the particular department. Existing System The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) make use of certain quality assurance systems that assist them in maintaining a stable operation. The system and its usage purely depend on the type of incident and the place in which the incident occurs. (Wallace, 1996). The executives must select the systems based on the severance of the problem and must make sure that these systems yield benefits. The existing systems ensure safety and these systems use certain predefined ideologies. Quality assurance systems are composed of written procedures which depicts the implementation of the system. The assurance systems imply with the governmental policies and legislative requirements. Incident reporting system is widely used by the fire and rescue services as it helps them to store and retrieve data pertaining to each and every incident. This software is mainly used to record the incidents that the fire and rescue department has previously dealt with. The incident recording system makes the job of recording the incidents and retrieving them much easier. The availability of quality assurance systems ensures that the fire and rescue services to have a control over the incidents. Another important system is the fire alarm which indicates when a fire occurs in a building or the place where it is installed. These systems are mainly used in shopping complexes and other places where public intervention is more. Though these systems prevent fire accidents to certain extent, the system does not yield more benefits. The in-efficiency of these systems leads to various other problems. The existing quality assurance systems aim at indicating or helping the fire and rescue service to manage any untoward incident. But the actual use of a quality assurance system does not end with this. (Cote, 2006). Instead the quality assurance system must help them to maintain a safe environment. Safety and security are the important aspects of any fire and rescue service department. The existing quality assurance systems do not provide much safety measures and this leads to several problems related to safety and security of the public. At times of crisis, the fire and rescue department must incorporate certain strategies to handle these situations with ease. U.K is one among the countries where the population is certainly more when compared to other countries. Though most of the buildings are constructed with fire resistant equipments, fire accidents are unavoidable. (Carter, 2007). The fire and rescue service is generally provided by a country’s government and it is the responsibility of the government to establish a firm that is capable of handling any sort of fire accident. This clearly states that the fire and rescue services must be well equipped and must have the ability to manage any minor or major accidents. Apart from these systems, sprinklers are widely used by fire and rescue departments. Sprinklers are in great demand in countries like U.K, since it is effective in dealing with fire accidents in factories and industries. The main use of sprinklers is to protect warehouses, shopping complexes and stores where the probability of fire accident is more. The levels of safety have been improved and this in turn has improved the effectiveness and usage of sprinklers. (Wilkinson, 2007). The reason for the popularity of sprinklers is it is one of the cost effective equipment that is used in managing the fire accidents. It is treated as an additional measure to deal with the fire accidents. The sprinklers have been improved in terms of efficiency and quality and hence they are widely preferred. When compared to the other equipments that are used to deal with fire accidents, sprinklers are proved to be effective in terms of cost and capability. The quality assurance system assures several benefits to the organization that implements it. Benefits of Quality Assurance Systems Quality assurance systems are essential since it mainly deals with the problems related to an organization’s operation. These systems ensure that the products manufactured by a company are of good quality. The use of quality assurance systems does not end with mere quality maintenance. (Baker, 2007). Instead the quality assurance systems enable the organizations to improve their operations and to enhance their business activities. This in turn helps the organization to grow at a faster pace. The quality assurance systems play a major role in the development and improvement of an organization. Though quality assurance systems are of great use in almost all types of organizations, fire and rescue services are the ones that require the help of quality assurance systems. Fire and rescue services deal with the lives of people and hence the need for quality assurance systems becomes more prominent. Though these services rely on equipments that help in managing the fire accidents, these departments make use of quality assurance systems to make sure that the equipments used by them are of better quality. The West Yorkshire fire and rescue service is one of the major fire service authorities in England. The efficiency of their service is considered to be the major advantage and they are popular due to their prompt service. (Dennett, 2004). The need for quality assurance system has increased when compared to the past and this has paved the way for improvement. Quality assurance systems provide the organizations with a complete review of the organization’s status. Since an organization is more prone to changes and modifications, a quality assurance system is mandatory to track these change and to help the organization to go through the changing phase in an easier manner. FRS Post government Change The fire and rescue service of U.K is completely dependent on the government and any change in the governmental policies and regulations will certainly affect the norms of the fire service. The situation after the governmental change in 2010 is completely different when compared to the past. The regulations in the previous government were entirely different and the change in the government has contributed to the existing problems. Though the previous government concentrated on preventing the fire accidents by means of sprinklers, the number of accidents did not reduce. (BASA, 2002). In spite of their effectiveness, sprinklers have proved to be a failure for domestic fires. The numbers of domestic fire accidents are more when compared to the fire accidents in factories, industries and warehouses. The new government has proposed certain regulations towards the fire and rescue service. The political influence has been more and the laws have also been changed due to the intervention of the political leaders. The area assessments have been abolished and this has been the greatest drawback due to the change in government. The local government inspections have also been abolished and this has resulted in serious issues. As the inspections have been abolished, the actual situation and the reason for a particular problem are not known. This poses great difficulty to the fire and rescue department as they find it difficult to assess the reason for the fire accident. The area assessment is one of the important activities involved in the fire and rescue department. This enables the fire service officials to have a look at the place where the accident occurred. This helps them to find out the reason behind such untoward incidents. (Carter, 2007). Area assessment also deals with area approvals which are essential for construction of houses and factories. Since this is abolished, the concept of fire safety is eradicated. People tend to build their houses without proper safety measures. This in turn leads to unexpected fire accidents. These recent changes have contributed to the prevailing problems and have created various other issues related to fire accidents. Recommendation Quality assurance systems are one of the major components in an organization. They are used to control the operations in an organization. They also assist in the development and improvement of the organization as a whole. As a consultant, I would suggest the fire and rescue service to implement a quality assurance system that analyzes the possibilities of fire accidents. The fire service must also include the essential information regarding the fire accidents so that the system intimates them during the times of crisis. The government must include regulations to help the fire and rescue service of West Yorkshire. Since U.K has been reporting more number of fire accidents and the numbers have been increasing when compared to the past, the need for efficient strategies have increased. The government should assist the officials and establish a system that would enable the fire department officials to serve the people in a better way. The Integrated Risk Management Plan must also be revised to suit the current situation and the needs of the fire and rescue service. The fire and rescue service must also ensure that the quality assurance system categorizes the fire accidents based on predefined criteria. The quality standards must also be included as it helps them to maintain the information systems in an efficient manner. Conclusion The quality assurance systems play a vital role in almost all types of organization. That too in a fire and rescue service, the importance of quality assurance system is more. The major benefit of the quality assurance system is the maintenance of the organization’s stability. They also help to improve the operations of the organization. The fire and rescue service of West Yorkshire is the most prominent one, since it has been helping people for many years. They are well known for their prompt service and their management qualities. The quality assurance system helps them to incorporate various new techniques in their service and this in turn helps them to serve people in a better manner. With the use of quality assurance systems, the fire and rescue service can ensure consistent quality enhancement. The service and its quality have improved when compared to the past. This was possible due to the constant use of quality assurance systems. The quality assurance systems must be implemented to ensure consistent growth and development. This in turn improves the standard of the organization. Reference Breckford, J., 2002. Quality. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. Fladung, K., 1995. Quality Assurance for Fire Department Emergency Medical Services. U.S.A: National Fire Academy. Grant, N., 1994. Fire Service Administration. U.S.A: National Fire Protection Association. Wallace, M., 2006. Fire Department Strategic Planning: Creating Future Excellence. U.S.A: PennWell Corporation. Cote, A., 2003. Organizing for Fire and Rescue Services. U.S.A: NFPA. Carter, H., 2007. Management in Fire Service. Canada: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Wilkinson, P., 2007. Homeland Security in the U.K. New York: Routledge. Baker, E., 2007. Fire Appliances of Eastern England. U.K: Jeremy Mills. Dennett, M., 2004. Fire Attack: An Integrated Strategy. England: Summerseat Publishing. BASA, 2002. Information File: Sprinklers in Dwellings. British Association, [Online]. 1(2), Available at: http://www.bafsa.org.uk/pdfs/publications/00000048.pdf [Accessed 22 January 2011]. Read More