Elvira Martínez Fernández – Russula Inside
Elvira Martínez Fernández, Quality, Safety and Environment Director, answers our questions in this extensive interview.
How and when did the need to implement a quality, safety and environmental system arise?
At the end of the 90s, Russula management detected that many of our customers increasingly required certified suppliers according to internationally recognized quality standards, for they generated an extra level of trust. This triggered Russula to carry out the implementation and subsequent certification of its management system according to the international quality standards of ISO 9001 and environmental standards of ISO 14001.
Why a department? What are the functions and benefits?
This Department of Quality and Environment was born out of necessity. Once the management system was implemented, it had to be maintained. An integrator was needed from all areas of the company, who did not depend on any particular area but had a general vision of all of them. Since 2007, our department has transformed into the Quality, Safety and Environment Department by incorporating the OHSAS 18001 health and safety standard guidelines into the management system.
In addition to maintaining the implemented management system, the functions of this department are to assist all staff in defining and keeping updated on the different operating, strategic and support processes of the company. These processes are adapted to different regulatory frameworks. Activities are supervised and carried out according to the stipulated standards and the requirements established internally and by our clients.
It is essential that the processes of the system are a true reflection of reality, which helps facilitate decision making and contingency planning, in the event of any incident, and that the processes evolve depending on the changes that may occur in the company and in the environment.
The most relevant benefits are to increase customer satisfaction, work in a more orderly and efficient way, control possible deviations in the execution of processes, improve the quality of our products and services, reduce as much as possible our impact on the environment, ensure the safety and health of our workers and comply with current legislation of application.
How do you measure customer satisfaction?
We have developed a procedure that allows us to measure and calculate the numerical value of customer satisfaction. This value is compared to a threshold value, above which we consider that the customers are satisfied.
The procedure considers different methods of measurement by analyzing feedback from the client’s point of view; projects are analyzed in terms of the product/service quality, if the product/service meets their expectations, how we are compared with our competition and their assessment of the safety and environmental behavior of our technical staff in their facilities and our ability to solve unforeseen issues.
Project feedback is acquired through surveys that are sent to the customer at the end of the project, through feedback provided by the Russula project managers, and through technical closure meetings with the Russula staff who have participated in each project. The method takes into account the client’s complaints, which can penalize the final numerical result. All the information gathered, is analyzed, and if needed, actions to improve customer satisfaction are planned and implemented. The level of customer satisfaction has been increasing within Russula over the years and is currently above 85%, which we value positively.
The level of customer satisfaction has been increasing within Russula over the years, and is currently above 85%, which we value positively.
Over the years, how has the integration of quality, safety, and environment in Russula evolved?
When I was entrusted with the task of organizing the quality system, I started by familiarizing myself with the different work procedures that were carried out in Russula, adapting them to the ISO standards of reference together with the head of each department in the company, implementing and monitoring them. The standards at that time were very focused on the generation of records as a method of evidence of compliance with requirements, which involved an additional effort in the definition of records as well as in their subsequent completion and revision since no one was used to documenting.
The norms have been evolving towards other ways of evidencing the work being undertaken which has helped the system generate the necessary and useful documentation in each process, defined many times by the workers themselves. This has helped change the perception of the system, as something integral, and we no longer hear the expression “what the quality department wants”.
Working groups have been created as a programmed method for the participation of all workers in matters related to safety, quality and the environment in their day-to-day work. This has also contributed and contributes to a greater awareness and integration of the system within the company.
Since the department was created, there have been three revisions of the ISO standards, each one involved successive updates of the management system. The current focus is by processes and from the perspective of risk analysis and opportunities for improvement within the company’s strategy. Employees within Russula identify themselves with the processes that they follow because they have participated to a greater or lesser degree in defining them.
Last year we made the transition to the ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 14001: 2015 standards of quality and environment, respectively, and we expect to make the transition from the OHSAS 18001: 2007 safety and health standard to the new ISO 45001: 2018 standard next year.
How has the mentality of workers changed towards safety and the environment in the last two decades?
Radically. These concepts are increasingly rooted in society and nobody within Russula is oblivious to it and it shows in their behavior, by their commitment and awareness, which is also reflected within the society in general.
Do you think there is much left to do? Is there room for improvement?
Of course, there is room for improvement, there is much to be done, and not improving would be moving backward. The implemented management system is based on continuous improvement and provides tools that help us improve every aspect of the organization, to name a few, the internal audits and follow-up reviews with Management where the objectives and strategies are set.
What was the easiest and most difficult thing?
Nothing has been easy. The hardest thing was and still is telling people how they have to work without them feeling invaded. Ultimately, we convey the need to establish certain controls in the performance of their functions as an element of improvement.
What do you value most about working at Russula?
Undoubtedly, its human capital and its technical capacity that has made possible its growth thanks to innovation, product diversification and adaptation to market demands, responding to the increasingly difficult challenges demanded by industry and society.
