Integrating Management Systems in Abu Dhabi Police Department - Essay Example

Running Head: Integrating Management Systems in Abu Dhabi Police Department Integrating Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety Management Practices in Abu Dhabi Police Department Introduction In recent years, a lot of emphasis has been placed on the importance of integrated management systems which correspond to the requirements of international standards. This has been attributed to the expansion of various management standard systems which include: quality management systems (ISO 9001: 2000), environmental management systems (ISO 140001: 2004) and occupational health and safety systems (OHSAS 18001) among others. The trend for standardization and integration has been reflected through the compliance to the requirements, various benefits which are normally observed through the provision of greater conformity within an organization, its effectiveness, and the overall efforts of developing separate systems of management. The management systems are usually treated as autonomous functions within organizations/ institutions. However, most of the professionals tend to think that it is possible to bring together and harmonise the three management systems: OHSAS 18001 OHSMS, ISO 14001 EMS and ISO 9001 QMS. This paper will therefore focus on the various management practices in the police department of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In addition, a clear strategy for the implementation of an integrated system in the organization will be developed and outlined in the paper. Body Abu Dhabi police (ADP) located in Abu Dhabi Emirate, works together with other agencies in order to reduce crime rates and achieve a safer society. It focuses on preserving the stability, eliminating a sense of fear and achievement of justice among the general public . The vision of Abu Dhabi Police is to become the police force that is more effective in the policing field which promptly responds to the needs of the society with a high level of training and integrity (Trent 1998, pp.32). In order to achieve the stated vision, the directorate is usually guided by a number of values which include: respect for human rights, honesty and integrity. Trent (1998), states that ADP was founded by the first president of the Abu Dhabi state, the late H.H. Shaikh Shakhbut Bin Sultan Al Nahayan in January 1957. His main aim behind the establishment was to create a strong dependent government which freely and fairly provided security and peace to the country. Abu Dhabi police department reports to the ministry of interior. It consists of sectors which are divided into departments. Each department has specific duties and responsibilities. However, over the past years, the organization structure of Abu Dhabi police has been changed leading to establishment of numerous departments. This was done in order to satisfy the developments which happened in the country during the past years. The new organisation structure consists of: general department of security and borders affairs, general department of central operations, general department of human resources, general department of installations protection, general department of finance and services and general department of police operations. The general departments hold 27 departments and 4 directorates. In 2000, a number of the Departments in Abu Dhabi police achieved the expected quality of job and were rewarded a quality certificate in accordance with the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO 9001: 2000). In addition, the Directorate General of Security Affairs and Ports (Abu Dhabi) received the quality certificate (ISO 2008: 9001) from Lloyds in July 2008. This was done in respect of safeguarding and securing the land borders and airports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Meyer 2009, pp. 56). ISO 9000 is a set of standards usually put aside for quality management systems. It is usually maintained by the International Organization for Standardization and administered by certification and accreditation bodies. The common requirements of in ISO 9001: 2008 / ISO 9001: 2008 include: regular review of individual processes and the quality system, checking output for defects, facilitation of continual improvement, storage of adequate records, monitoring present processes in order to ensure that they are safe and establishment of a set of procedures covering the main processes in a business. Certification of an organization to an ISO 900I does not promise quality end products or services, instead, it attests that the official business processes are taken into account. ISO 14000 is a sequence of environmental management systems standards which provide a framework for units to demonstrate their dedication to environmental task and to set up a management system that allows compliance with appropriate legislation. The environmental management systems allows an entity to manage the environmental features and the impacts of the organisation’s activities, services and products by setting aside goals and targets related to already identified environmental management objectives. Kate (2007, pp. 45), states that the execution of environmental management systems normally assists an organisation to conform with regulatory and legislative requirements, prevent pollution, diminish waste and reduce exposure to liability. Occupational health and safety management systems; the OHSAS 18000 sequence of standards grew out of the global success of the quality and environmental management systems. The rising demand by companies for a standard that tackled the management of ensuring safety in the workplace also led to its emergence. Thomson (2007, pp. 78), indicates that OHSAS 18001 was established by a group of accreditation bodies with an aim of providing a common standard from which their patrons could build and manage a homogeneous occupational health and safety management system. In relation to the three management systems: ISO 9001: 2008, ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18000, most organizations work towards integrating the management systems for various reasons. An integrated management system is considered as a management system that brings together all components of a business into a whole and logical system in order to facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s purpose and vision (Matias & Coelho, 2002 pp. 6). Effective integrated management systems usually take into account all the activities that affect an entity regardless of its function or size. A quality, environmental or health and safety management systems should operate effortlessly across all components as part of the daily business functioning. Mark (1999, pp.97), states that integration of management systems usually bring together the processes involved in the systems for effective business management. Elvis (2009, pp.45), states that anything that affects business results should be part and parcel of the management system. The most common reasons for integrating management systems include: employment of a constant approach across all disciplines, reduction in duplication in terms of development and maintenance of controls required and combination of diverse evidence for diverse management areas in order to offer a clear and a wider picture of the company’s performance. The significance of the benefits which go handy with the accreditation of the organization has played a major role in the improvement of the general performance of Abu Dhabi police department. For the purposes of developing an integrated approach to the plan and review of a management system, the divided management system standards are required to initially hold a common structure (Wilkinson, 1999). The common criteria usually permit standards to be used either collectively or separately as determined by the organization itself. For instance, ISO 900I normally consider the clients/ customers as the main stakeholders whereas OHSAS 18001 and ISO 9001focus on the broader stakeholders such as the society (Wilkinson, 2000). Since Abu Dhabi police has obtained only the quality management practices (ISO 9000), it is of essence that it integrates the other two management systems (ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18000) in the general management so as to obtain maximal benefits. Abu Dhabi police should therefore follow the following steps in order to integrate its management systems to form a compliant of environmental and health and safety management systems under the international standards. To start with, Abu Dhabi police should begin by forming an EHS management committee as they introduce the EHSMS into the organization. The main tasks of the committee will involve facilitation of EHSMS implementation, provision of direction for the development of procedures and policies, report to management and function on behalf of management. The EHS committee should comprise representatives from management, staff, health and safety officers and environmental officers. Having established an EHS committee, development of a policy should be carried out. The endorsement and development of an EHS policy by management will portray the organisation’s commitment to the development and implementation of environmental, health and safety management system. It is important that the policy is kept short and concise. It can also be supplemented with a descriptive booklet so that the personnel can enhance their own understanding. In order to obtain an effective EHS policy, it is appropriate to include the following 10 components: establishment of a set of guiding principles, statement of commitment of the organization to protect environment, health and safety using self regulation and EHSMS, provision for continuous improvement, monitoring EHSMS performance, provision of education opportunities in EHS, statement extending responsibility of implementation of EHSMS to contractors, development of EHS goals and targets, requirement to meet regulatory requirements and statement regarding achievement of a high level of environmental and health and safety stewardship. Once the policy is formulated, it is in order to identify the associated EHS risks in Abu Dhabi police. Formulation of an organisation’s EHSMS should start with identification of key environmental and health and safety risks. The risks should directly relate to the day to day activities of the organisation. One of the leading principles in the EHS policy is to bring together the social, environmental and economic factors into decisions to ensure that the strategies adopted are cost effective and in line with the importance of the issues being addressed. Therefore, to clearly understand the effort and cost needed for activities carried out by an organization, a risk assessment must be filled. Once all the risks have been recognized, it is essential that they are prioritized dependent on their emergency. This should be done by analyzing the chances of the risk occurring. In an effort of managing the risks, various departments in Abu Dhabi Police should focus on identifying the legal requirements that apply to health, safety and environment. Therefore, an internal review of legislation in relation to federal and Abu Dhabi Emirate legal requirements should be carried out. Some of the environment legislation include: Federal Law No. 24, 1999 which outlines the various ways to obtain a sound environmental management and sustainability through the formulation and enhancement of suitable legal, technical and management instruments to develop, conserve and protect the environment in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Local Law No. 16 2005 which states the requirements to assess environmental impacts of hazardous waste management, sewage, air emissions and urban planning. On the other hand, health and safety legislation include: Federal Law No. 8 (1980) which deals with preventive, occupational safety, social care and health, Local Law No. 16 (2005) which states that an organisation or individual is prohibited from practising any work or conducting any activity adversely affecting the health of human beings and safety of environment without obtaining licence from the authority. Having identified the associated risks, strategic management and performance improvement department in Abu Dhabi police should come up with targets and key performance indicators (KPIs). The key performance indicators are usually useful in measuring success of an entity and are an essential way of tracking and assessing implementation of the EHSMS. Jolene (2008, pp. 43), states that KPIs are quantifiable measurements, initially agreed on beforehand and usually reflect the critical success or failure of specific procedures, policies and initiatives. It is important that the department ensures that the KPIs of the organisation are linked to and reflect KPIs developed at the emirate level. In order to allow for tracking, the performance indicators should be quantifiable, achievable and measurable, however, they should also lead the organization towards success. This implies that, they should not be achieved easily. It is also important that the KPI is limited in number and essential to the entity’s goals. Therefore, a good KPI should have the following: a title, defined indicators such as the time period or the unit of measure, targets and measurements if they are in a position to monitored and measured. Every performance indicator should have a target or a sequence of targets that assist in monitoring progress towards meeting the performance indicators. Just like the KPIs, targets should also be defined and measurable. The targets which Abu Dhabi police should hold should contribute to achievement of long term goals set by sectors which are meant to align with government goals. Some of the targets include: reduction of energy use by 20% from 2008 levels, reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from 2008 levels, reduction of waste generated by 10% from 2008 levels among others. However, there are normally non-numerical targets which include: development of programs to improve EHS performance of suppliers, establishment of programs to promote EHS integration throughout an organization and compliance with the relevant UAE and Abu Dhabi Emirate EHS regulations. Once the organisation has determined the environmental, health and safety risks and has come up with targets and key performance indicators it is important to develop a management program that assists the organization towards the achievement of the goals and targets. The program can be in form of a five year program with details given for the first few years. It is also essential that the program identifies all the key tasks that need to be undertaken in order to begin then development and implementation of an EHSMS including key actions, budget requirements, personnel requirements and time frames. Once the management program has been completed, the EHSMS management committee should approve the program for implementation within the organization. The EHS management program should be used as part of the annual review to identify tasks completed and those outstanding. The next step should be identification of roles and responsibilities; this is due to the fact that everyone in an organization usually has a role to play the development and implementation of an environment, health and safety management system. The competent authority should assume an overseeing and coordinating role in the implementation of the Abu Dhabi police EHSMS. In so doing, the competent authority should coordinate, communicate the organisation’s goals, monitor the document in an informal way, audit the document in a formal capacity, approve the EHSMS, educate on specific issues and sectors, research information and data to investigate new opportunities, report to government on the status of EHS management and partner with other sectors in order to understand and assist with compliance issues. After identifying the roles and responsibilities, the training needs should be identified. This should be done by ensuring that the staffs are trained in all aspects of health and safety and environment so as to ensure the staff uptake of the EHSMS and reducing environmental incidents as well as the health and safety risks. The provision of enough staff training is meant to be a key performance indicator that should be reported by the organization to the competent authority under Abu Dhabi’s EHSMS. It is expected that the training needs of Abu Dhabi police departments will differ dependent on the works carried out in various departments in the organisation. The following general rules should apply in line with identifying the training needs. First and foremost, the participants should be provided with a clear understanding of the EHS policy, procedures, the EHS impacts and responsibilities. Secondly, it should be ongoing with regular refresher courses. Thirdly, provide knowledge of management systems and address the implementation issues. Thatcher (2004, pp. 98), states that the process of identifying risks will help in identification of opportunities which will assist in training the staff. Therefore, The EHSMS training should include all aspects of environment, health and safety. Some of the examples for training include: stairways and ladder safety, fire protection, first aid, preventing heat press, fall protection, hearing safety, environmental protection among others. Once Abu Dhabi police department has adopted an EHS policy and set up targets, standards and management program, it would be important to come up with the EHSMS policies and procedures. The procedures and policies should align with the EHS aspects register that recognizes the organization’s EHS risks. Duncan (1999, pp. 65), states that the policies and procedures normally identify ways to alleviate the risks and minimize occurrences of harm to the health and safety of staff as well as the general environment. It is of essence that the policies and procedures outline the following: the purpose and scope of the policy, the approach to achieving the purpose of the policy, the records needed, review of records and any definitions. When developing the EHSMS procedures and policies, a standard format should be utilized. This is normally done by developing document control procedures. The document should integrate a number of components to ensure its effectiveness. The regulation of EHSMS documents is normally an important issue in mitigating unauthorised amendments and ensuring that the latest version is implemented. To efficiently manage the documents, only the EHSMS coordinator should have editing rights. In the case of a health, safety and environmental emergency that takes place as a result of activities carried out by the organisation or from events beyond the control of the organisation, proper procedures should be put in place in order to manage and respond to the events. It is expected that the risk assessment will recognize the important health, safety and environmental risks and the likelihoods of reoccurrences. The organisation should therefore ensure that there are emergency management procedures that address each of the high risks. Once the entity commences development of an EHSMS, it is advisable to communicate the EHSMS commitments, requirements, staff roles and responsibilities to the staff. Various means of communication should be adopted to ensure that they obtain the intended information. Having communicated the intended message, the strategic management and performance improvement department should monitor, measure and report the results to the general management of the organisation. Kyla (2008, pp. 54), indicates that measurement of EHSMS, KPIs and continual monitoring plays an important role in continuous improvement and is a critical aspect of the environmental, health and safety management systems. Therefore, monitoring and measurement should cover all aspects of EHS which include: air quality, water quality, noise levels, waste generated, OHS incidents, hazardous substances management and plant species on site. Abu Dhabi police department will need to establish procedures for internal reporting which will assist the general management in tracking progress towards meeting the targets and KPIs. It will also assist in monitoring budgets and implementation of the environment, health and safety management plan. In addition, the organisation will need to establish procedures for external reporting. This is normally regarded as the central part of self regulation. In any case the audit finds an example of non conformance; corrective measures should be taken as well as preventive actions so as to ensure that non conformance does not occur again. The root cause of the non conformance should also be identified. After carrying out the audit, strategic management and performance improvement department in Abu Dhabi should properly manage the records so as to prevent unauthorised amendments and ensuring the latest versions of procedures and policies are implemented. The management review should periodically review the EHSMS to ensure that it meets the objectives of EHSMS, developed performance indicators and legal requirements. This ensures that the EHSMS continues to be effective and gradually improve. The statement should then be handed to the sector regulatory authority in order to seek approval of the management system. This is best achieved by contracting a third party accredited consultant who specialises in environmental, health and safety management systems to review and approve the system. Once the consultant is content with the established environmental, health and safety management system, then he or she prepares a statement to that effect. In the overall, this would lead to the integration of the management systems in Abu Dhabi Police department. Integrated management system normally carries along a number of benefits to the organization (McDonald et al, 2003). To start with, it assists in the promotion of a single system hence reduced costs. Secondly, it reduces the risks that are likely to occur in any business. Thirdly, it reduces documentation as well as the resources that are needed to manage the system. Fourthly, it makes it easier to prioritise on the major issues and creation of a more concise reporting structure. Lastly, the system assists in clearly defining roles and responsibilities for managing the integrated management system. However, the success of the system is normally entirely dependent on skilled support groups and cross training of managers in order to maintain the systems. On the other hand, there are several disadvantages which accompany integration of management systems (Martias & Coelho, 2002). Usually, key differences between management systems take place leading to an impediment of total correspondence. For example, while quality standards are more likely to affect the clients and the organization itself, environmental standards tend to have a greater reach affect the relationship of an organization with that of its neighbourhood and health and safety standards appear to protect the workers present at the site from accidents. Another disadvantage involves coercion of good safety programs to fit in the other two management systems. For instance, emergency preparedness does not correspond to any ISO quality standard system in a direct way exclusive of stretching the notion of the standard beyond recognition. The certification of the quality management systems in Abu Dhabi police has been of great importance to the organisation. First and foremost, it has greatly motivated the staff members in the organization. This has led to optimal performance among the staff due to the motivation. In addition, a positive image of the organisation has been created among the public. This has led to a rise of confidence among the public regarding the organization. Conclusion In conclusion, integrated management systems are usually beneficial to organizations. Since Abu Dhabi police has established only the quality management system, it should focus on integrating the other two management systems (environmental, health and safety management systems) in the general management. However, there are various steps (discussed above) which need to be followed in order to obtain the desired results. Basically, the integration of the management systems can be a vital step towards unifying the general management principles of organizations. References Books Duncan. R 1999, Policy Implementation, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Elvis, O 2009, Management Practices in Entities. 2nd ed. Cambridge University press, Cambridge Knights, D., & Wilmot, H 2007, Introducing organizational Behavior and Management, Thomson Learning, London. 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ISO 9000 Program has developed a partnership with the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) Records and Identification Bureau (R&I Bureau) [Online]. Available: http://www.sandia.gov/ISO9000/phoenixpolice.htm [Accessed 12 November 2009]. Read More