The closing of the 36th Atomic Energy Week provided the backdrop to another year-end highlight to the activities of the Institute: the awarding of the Quality Management system ISO 9001:2000 certification to the Nuclear Regulations, Licensing and Safeguards Division and four other administrative support units of the Institute.
The award was presented by Certification International Phils., Inc., through its Managing Director, Mr. Renato Navarrete, during ceremonies held on December 12, 2008. The official handing over of the certificate was witnessed by DOST Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro.
The event caps efforts that began in 2004, with the creation of a Committee on Quality Management System for NRLSD activities, and which snowballed in subsequent years with the conduct of seminars and workshops, led in particular by the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC) on aspects such as documenting a Quality management System, Measurement of Customer Satisfaction, Productivity Improvement through 5S and Internal Quality Audit. The expert guidance of Dr. Danilo Pilar and Ms. Evelyn Gallardo, both of the MIRDC, also led to the development of the Quality Manual for the Institute’s regulatory division.
With the support of a DOST Grant-in-Aid project on “Establishment and Implementation of Quality Management System in Accordance with ISO 9001:2000†and after the successful hurdling of both internal and external audits conducted on the third and fourth quarters of 2008, the much-coveted certification was finally issued.
The privileged status attesting to the awardee’s compliance with the stringent quality and reliability requirements of the International Standards Organization is now enjoyed by PNRI’s regulatory division and the Finance and Administrative Division’s Accounting, Personnel, Property, and Motorpool Units. The accomplishment proudly gives flesh to the Executive Order issued by the President, on “Institutionalization of the Structure, Mechanisms and Standards to Implement the Government Quality management Program†and to the program on Integrated Management System being promoted by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Efforts are underway to have the other divisions of the Institute follow suit.
