Profiles
in Quality
The 2017 International Quality
Award Winners and Their Stories

ForewordOne of my favourite books has
always been John Kennedy’s
Profiles in Courage, written
when he was a relatively unknown
Senator from Massachusetts.
The book details acts of courage andintegrity on the part of United States
Senators through history, chosen because
they took a stand contrary to popular
opinion, the perceived wisdom of thetimes or challenged vested interests.
Courage and integrity are two of the key
traits demonstrated by our International
Quality Award winners, and when we
first talked about compiling all of theirstories into a single book, I knew I
wanted to call it Profiles in Quality.
This book is very much about people
and the difference they can make, often
fighting to be heard, battling to change
perceptions or succeeding against theodds. Whether it’s persuading a northern

UK engineering company to install somemuch-needed quality procedures; battling
ingrained attitudes towards quality at amajor port; or putting in place mission
critical quality procedures at a Canadianhydro-electric dam project, the quality
professionals profiled in this book havestuck to their guns, changed attitudes andmade a real quantifiable difference totheir organisations and the projects they
have worked on.
In the process, they have elevatedthemselves to the pinnacle of theirprofession and provided a benchmark towhich all quality professionals can, andshould aspire.
These are their stories and I very muchhope that they can inspire other quality
professionals to take their ideas on board
and follow their example.

Vince Desmond
Chief Executive, Chartered Quality Institute“Courage and integrity are two of
the key traits demonstrated by ourInternational Quality Award winners”

The
Importanceof QualityThe origin of the International
Quality Awards lies in our
determination to celebrate those
Quality Professionals across the globe,
who are striving, day in and day out, tomake their organisations perform better.
Our objectives have always been to
hold up the work that individuals
and teams are doing, spread bestpractice and bang the drum for quality
across business, the public sector andvoluntary organisations.
In 2017 we received nearly 150 entries
from 31 countries. The entries camefrom sectors that have traditionallybeen highly focused on quality,
such as aerospace, construction andmanufacturing, but also new sectors,
such as medical care.
The winners’ stories are many anddiverse, but there are a number ofdistinguishing features that have helped
the winners raise themselves above
other entrants.

Firstly, they made it personal. It’s about
them, their trials and tribulations,
their drive and ambition to overcome
the challenges before them, and makequality a key component in theirorganisation’s on-going success. They
have a personal belief in quality andmake it their mission to spread the word.
Most importantly, their entries took us
into the heart of their work and madeus feel part of it. We were, for a shorttime, able to walk in the shoes of aquality manager for a massive hydroelectric dam project, or sense what it
is like to have responsibility for quality
procedures on the production line at
Jaguar Land Rover.
The second distinguishing feature of
the winners is that they told us, notonly what they’d done, but also how
they measured it, and then explained
why those measures were important for
their organisation.
The winners produced quantifiableimprovement, which is vitally
important, because if you can’t justify
your activities to the judges, then
you won’t have been able to defend
and promote your activities to yourown organisations.
The final distinguishing feature of
our winners is bravery. Yes, they had
leadership, drive and ambition to makethings better, but they were also willingto take on vested interests, insist that thecorrect quality procedures were in place150 31award entries

countries

before the commencement of a
project, and stare down any “we’ve
always done it this way” attitudes.
These are their stories, which I
hope you find both inspirationaland educational. If other quality
professionals can read their stories
and say: “That’s a good idea. I can
use that in my current and futureroles”, then we’ve done our job.
Finally, my message to quality
professionals across the world is: doplease consider entering the awards.
Just entering helps raise the profile
of quality within your organisationand is a vital step in securing buy-inand enhancing your own credibility.
Thank you once again to all our2017 entrants and best of luckin 2018.

Estelle Clark
Director of Policy at theChartered Quality InstituteWinner
Quality
Professionalof the YearQUALITY PROFESSIONALOF THE YEAR | WINNER
Name: John Feltham

Role: Systems and Standards Compliance Manager
Company: Portsmouth International Port
Location: Portsmouth, United Kingdom

John’s journey into quality began in 1974.
Fresh out of Brunel School, Portsmouth,John gained his first taste of working life as aquality control inspector.

of stakeholders, including: The Home Office;border force; HMRC; ferry, freight and cruise
companies; the emergency services; and thegeneral public.”

John is now seeing a measurable improvementin his colleagues’ knowledge of quality
management and is sought out for advice as
the port’s quality expert.

Having quickly realised the potential of acareer in quality, John decided to study with
the CQI (or Institute of Quality Assurance,
as it was then known), being awarded with a
Diploma in the late 1980s. He now works at
Portsmouth International Port, one of Britain’s
best-connected ports for ferries, cruises andcargo travelling to and from France, Spain and
the Channel Islands.

John is responsible for managing key
processes within the harbour, such as
controls, embarkation and disembarkation ofvessels, border controls, security, and the safe
movement of vehicles and people.

“Without the support I received, and continue
to receive from the CQI, I would not haveachieved this level of success,” he says. “That’s
what the CQI is all about: sharing knowledge
and making a difference to society as a whole.”

He says: “I oversee the quality standards
for each process, but I also monitor
environmental issues, sustainability activities
and general business continuity management.
In order to do my job properly and monitor
our KPIs, I need to maintain a dialogue
with all of the port’s interested parties andcapture any changing needs as part of a wider
integrated management system. I also need tobe adaptable and flexible. We must be awareof our carbon footprint, ensure visitors areable to walk about the port safely, and keep
on top of the latest terror threats. There’s lots
at stake if we get it wrong.”“It’s up to the quality profession to bringpeople on-side so that we can all do what weneed to do. The port will always need a quality
management system in place. My job is to leave
a legacy – a successful integrated management
system that will ensure the success of both; theport and its employees for years to come.”“My role is a wide-ranging one, but it has theapplication of quality at an operational and astrategic level at its heart,” John says. “It’s pretty
complicated. We’re owned by Portsmouth City
Council, but we also have a wider network“To be a successful
quality professional,
one needs to be adept at
dealing with different
people. I try to be
pragmatic – a rolemodel rather than a
dictator. After all, it’s not
my management system,
it’s the organisation’s.
I’m just the custodian.”

John has made a measurable impact tothe port’s quality systems but admits thatgetting through to the team was sometimes
challenging. “Many of my colleagues saw
quality as a negative influence on the port’s
operations,” he states. “I needed to bringthem on side and demonstrate the value ofquality, without imposing it on them.”

John used visual tools, as well as qualifiable
data, to help the team understand his role, as
well as where they fit within the value stream.
“Quality isn’t just about improving the port –it’s about improving the working lives of thepeople employed there,” he says.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“John’s journey to become aquality professional has been
nothing short of impressive. He’s
been instrumental in influencing
a culture of change at all levels of
his organisation and embodies
quality at every turn. He clearlyloves his role and is personallyinvested in the success of the port.”Winner
Quality
Professional ina New ProjectQUALITY PROFESSIONAL IN
A NEW PROJECT | WINNER

Name: Yele Odofin-Belo
Role: HSEQ Supervisor

Company: ATCO Two Rivers Lodging
Group Limited Partnership
Location: British Columbia, Canada“I relish the opportunity
to be part of a large andcomplex venture, butwhen I first consideredjoining the ATCO / BC
Hydro project, I was
struck by the contract’s
negative deductions.
Financial penalties for
failing to hit KPIs is
hardly in your averageclause. This didn’t
put me off, though. On
the contrary, it’s whatmade me apply.”		It’s not every day that a quality professional
inherits a project in which a failure to hit KPIs
could result in financial penalties. For Yele
Odofin-Belo, a Health & Safety advisor at
ARAMARK Remote Workplace Services, thiswas all part of the job.

“I was brought on by ATCO to head a quality
team for BC Hydro’s Clean Energy Dam
project,” he says. “ATCO had been assigned toa remote workplace contract which required
the design, construction and operation ofa luxury worker accommodation facility at
the site.”

The $470million project was considerablycomplex and strictly audited. ATCO began
by creating a subsidiary – ATCO Two Rivers
Lodge (ATRL) - the quality team of which wasmanaged by Yele. Underlining ATRL’s activity
would be a number of KPIs and expectations
stipulated in the 1148-page Project Agreement.
“A failure to meet KPIs would result in financial
penalties for ATCO, which ranged from
$1,000 to upwards of $2million” states Yele.
“Infringements could be anything from longqueues at mealtimes, to power failures andevacuations. This placed both me and my teamunder a lot of pressure. I needed to be surethat we could handle the responsibility, andthat everyone understood the terms set out in
the Project Agreement.”
In the project’s initial phases, the ATRL teamunderwent a period of transition. “We
suddenly found ourselves with a numberof unionised construction workers, manyof whom did not have the skills required
to effectively meet our quality-based
expectations,” Yele says. “I initiatedan in-house training programme for
all workers, as well as a site-specificmentorship programme for new hires.
These initiatives helped workers todeliver KPI results within the operation’s
pre-defined acceptable margin of error.

“CQI membership offers many professional
opportunities, but it also provides a numberof resources that can be practically applied toyour work,” he says. “The CQI’s Competency

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Bold, brave and incredibly
confident, Yele stepped up to
a complex project, when alesser quality professional may
have walked away. In facing
the challenge head-on, Yele
managed to hit KPIs, avoid
financial penalties, and develop,
diversify and strengthen thequality capability of his team.”

Framework has been particularly beneficial to
my current project and my career as a whole.”
Yele has also defined and initiated several
other methods for project analysis and review,
including guest satisfaction programmes,
outreach events, and investigative tools suchas Five Whys, Taproot and Incident Causation.
“With the support of my team, I’ve been able
to articulate all of this quality activity into one
actionable business model, which has seen
failure rates decrease from 1.67 per cent to0.30 per cent over a five-month-period.
“By implementing the right structure andeffective governance, we have achieved aculture of quality in which measurable results
have demonstrated the positive impact wehave made.”Winner
Emerging
Talent

EMERGING
TALENT | WINNER
Name: Charlotte Laverty
Role: Contracts Audit Manager
Company: Alan Auld Engineering
Location: Doncaster, United Kingdom

It’s not every day that one makes the decision
to move from beauty to engineering, but
that’s just what Charlotte Laverty did when
she joined Alan Auld Engineering, a small
Doncaster-based business specialising in shaft
and tunnel design.

“There were less than 15 employees when I
joined, with no formal quality system in place,”
she says.

Alan Auld completes projects for clients acrossa variety of sectors, and the work can often be
dangerous. If environments are not properly
audited, they can lead to injury. The business,therefore, needs to comply with a number ofindustry standards, including ISO 9001:2015.

“I had to develop a Quality Management
System that would help us meet all of
our industry standards and regulations,”
Charlotte states.

Charlotte started by implementing various
analysis techniques to identify issues. She also
created an ‘Interested Parties’ analysis, which
identified key project stakeholders. From
this, she identified several areas in which
the company’s quality control systems could
be improved.

“As well as ironing out a few regulatory
details, I also noticed that our engineers wereusing two contradictory documents for thesame process,” she says. “This was causing
confusion and frustration amongst the staff.”“I worked with all stakeholders to combine
the two documents. This renewed their faith
in the value of a quality management system!”“Why do I stay in thequality profession?
Because I enjoy what
I do and I’m good at
it. I’m proud of what
I’ve achieved.”

The road hasn’t been smooth for Charlotte,and misconceptions of quality and its role
have often been challenging. She says: “As ayoung woman in a male-dominated industry,I have struggled with my confidence. It’s
hard to raise awareness of quality and drive
engagement, particularly when many people
are set in their ways!”“Being a member of the CQI has helped
me to feel a part of something bigger.

I’ve also developed a range of
quality management skills – not tomention a higher level of confidence– by networking with otherquality professionals.”

Alan Auld Engineering is now expanding
its quality team to build on Charlotte’ssystems. “The business has hired an
additional auditor to make sure no stone
is left unturned. I’m also working with amentor so that I can develop my careerand my confidence further,” she says.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Charlotte has so muchenthusiasm. It’s amazing to see
the contribution she has made to
her organisation, despite being at
such an early stage of her career.
She’s the perfect example of what
the next generation can, and willbring to the quality industry.”Winner
Leadership
Award

LEADERSHIPAWARD | WINNER
Name: John Holland

Role: Head of The Jaguar Land Rover Way(Senior Manager)

Company: Jaguar Land Rover Automotive plc.
Location: Coventry, United Kingdom

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) represents more thanhigh-end, luxury cars. It’s a symbol of British
manufacturing excellence – a source of pridefor the Nation’s engineering sector.
For 20 years, John Holland has been a partof JLR’s journey. Four years’ ago, however, henoticed that the business’s infrastructure wasstruggling to keep up with the many changes
the company, as a whole, was experiencing.

He decided to develop a single location forarticulating and communicating the business’s
purpose, context and strategic priorities.
Thus ‘The JLR Way’ was born, and John hasn’t
looked back since. “I didn’t start out as a quality
professional, and I didn’t create the JLR Way“At Jaguar Land Rover,everyone needs to bea quality professional.
The JLR Way makes
everyone responsiblefor quality and connects
business performance
improvement withstandards andprocess improvementin the mind of
every employee.”

to kick-start a career in quality”, he states.
“I developed it because I felt strongly thatsuch a programme would be vital to the
future success of a company to which I havebelonged for the past two decades.”The JLR Way is a business management
system that enables all employees to deliver
improvements and address issues that
could be inhibiting performance. This has
now developed into a global online portal,
managed by an entire team of process
and content owners. “The JLR Way is thecompany’s integrated management system,
bringing every aspect of the business together
under a common framework”, John says.
“JLR has grown rapidly since 2010. As aresult, we’ve had to develop new processes,
define clear ownership and accountability,transform old ways and keep up with newtechnologies. Because of this, standardisation
has become vital to securing stable working
practices, clarity of process and reliable
working instructions.”

Collaboration with employees from acrossthe business has been a big part of John’s
success. Since the JLR Way was implemented,
he has appointed a number of employees
from different divisions and at varying levels ofseniority, to help move the JLR Way forward.
“From the moment the programme began,
the commitment of top-level leadershiphas been vital,” he says. “For this reason,
I’ve worked hard to maintain an engaged,committed and visible sub-group of senior
management as ‘Executive Sponsors’ of the
programme. Successful collaboration lies at

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“John came from outside theindustry to make things better.
Since then, he has demonstrated
a remarkable commitment to his
professional development. His
personal ambition, as well as
his ambition for The JLR Way,
has shone through at every turn,
along with his vibrant personality
and inspiring professionalism.”

the heart of the JLR Way, which is why I’ve
also appointed a cross-functional council andoperational administrators network to drive
policy and facilitate deployment.”

The JLR Way is now embedded within the
fabric of the organisation, due in part torelentless global deployment efforts, such as
talks, instructor-led training, e-learning andteam engagement workshops. John concludes:“The JLR Way is something I am accountable
to and responsible for. I strongly believe thatprofessional process ownership will improve
our company, and I am dedicated to engaging
with people from across the business toimprove their way of working, day-in, day-out.”QUALITY TEAM OF
THE YEAR | WINNER
Name: Al Zahra Private Hospital, Dubai
Location: Al Barsha, Dubai

WinnerQuality
Team ofthe Year“Teamwork is our strongest asset. Our tasks require
multi-disciplinary teams, from statisticians andclinicians, to the quality professionals themselves.
Getting it right means more than hitting a KPI – itmeans ensuring the safety and wellbeing of every
single patient and staff member in the hospital.”
There is arguably no other setting in which
quality is more vital than in a hospital.
Everything, from infection control to waitingtimes, needs to be monitored and improved inorder to keep patients and hospital staff safe.

The Al Zahra Private Hospital in Dubai is no
exception. Located on Sheikh Zayed Road
in the West Dubai residential developmentof Al Barsha, the 187-bed hospital is quickly
establishing itself as a premium provider of
medical care in the Middle East. Its mission is toprovide evidence-based, personalised care in asafe environment, while meeting the needs of
its patients and building patient trust.

To ensure that this is achieved, the hospital has
a small but experienced team of professionals
within clinical auditing, risk management,
accreditation & performance improvement, anddata management. Its job is to oversee, analyseand improve the hospital’s quality management
systems, while meeting various national andinternational standards and accreditations.
“Our department’s involvement is critical inensuring the adequacy, suitability, effectivenessand efficiency of services,” says Mervat
Mansour, director of quality and patient safetyat Al Zahra Hospital. “The team regularly
performs reviews to ensure compliancewith national and international regulatory
requirements and maintains relationships withunits and affiliates to promote standardisation,
improve communication and enhance theefficiency of quality systems.”

The quality team must also factor in thehospital’s strategy and objectives. These arebased around respect, excellence in quality& patient experience, safe delivery of care,
responsibility, learning, and teamwork. “In order
to align with the hospital’s Growth Strategy,
we need to understand our customers’
needs and expectations,” explains Mervat.
“To do this, we analyse and report on anumber of feedback systems, including Patient
Satisfaction Committees, opinion meters,
patient satisfaction surveys and mystery
shopper programmes.”“Many policies and processes within thehospital have been revised as a result of
patient feedback. For example, we now havecustomised Anaesthetic Centre consent forms
that are procedure-specific. We also send
automated messages to patients when theirreports are ready and are currently working

on a mobile app that can assess a patient’s
feedback after each visit.”

Internally, the team is working on building
quality into each and every process. “Allprojects are data-driven, evidence-based andbenchmarked”, says Mervat. “We have also
developed a Quality Curriculum for staff basedon any identified organisational needs.”
The success of this small team is alreadymaking an impact on the reputation of thehospital. “We’ve achieved 98 per cent successin re-accreditations, and most of our 100
KPIs are better than, or equal to international
benchmarks”, says Mervat. “Each employee
is now encouraged to grow in every aspectof quality, while aligning themselves with thehospital’s overall strategic goals.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Despite being a relatively smallteam, the Al Zahra Hospital quality
division has made a significant
impact, achieving a great deal
in a short amount of time. Eachmember of the quality team has
demonstrated impressive levels of
expertise and leadership, making
them invaluable to the hospitaland its work.”

Winner
HonoraryAward

HONORARY
AWARD | WINNER
Name: Andrew Wolstenholme
Role: Chief Executive
Company: Crossrail

It is one thing to deliver Europe’s largest
infrastructure project on time and on
budget. It is another entirely to attempt,
during construction, to leave a legacy oflessons that future generations can follow.

The result is the Crossrail Learning Legacy
Programme, which aims to share knowledge
and insight through case studies, technicalpapers and interviews – all of which are freely
available to be ‘pinched with pride’.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Chief Executive of
Crossrail, has done just that. He recognised
the ground-breaking nature of the Crossrail
project, and that it was his organisation’s
duty to share this knowledge with others,
capturing all relevant information andsharing it immediately, rather than waiting
until after the project had finished.

Andrew recognised, from the outset, that
quality professionals would be the key to thesuccessful delivery of Crossrail. When he first
took the job, he asked his Tier 1 suppliers
how they were going to deliver quality andenquired about the qualifications of their inhouse quality professionals.

When most couldn’t answer, he pointed themin the direction of the CQI and we delivereda series of fast-track training courses forover 100 construction industry quality
professionals to get them up-to-speed. Manyof them are now running the same approachwith their suppliers - a real knock-on effectthrough the construction supply chain.
This was a big, bold intervention that, at one
stage, was potentially in danger of making
the project start late. Andrew truly believedthat placing quality at the heart of Crossrail

would make all the difference and thathis people would catch-up if they had
competent professionals in place. He’s been
proven right.
However, Andrew’s, and his team’s real
legacy is much more than taking the time
to collate and disseminate thousands of
documents from procurement processes
through to project management.

When I talk to people working on othermajor infrastructure projects one of the firstthings they ask is “How did Crossrail do it?”.
And Crossrail is always eager to share.

He has changed the mindset of theconstruction industry and demonstrated
the value of placing quality at its heart. For
this reason, we are delighted to give him thishonorary award.
Vincent Desmond
Chief Executive,
Chartered Quality
InstituteHONORARYAWARD | WINNER
Name: John Oakland
Role: Chairman
Company: Oakland Consulting LLPWhen you want to learn about any topic
associated with quality you automaticallythink of the books written by John Oakland.
However, his landmark works, which include
Total Quality Management & Operational
Excellence, now in its fourth edition; The
Future Face of the Quality Profession; andStatistical Process Control, which is now in
its sixth edition, barely scratch the surfaceof his contribution to the quality profession
over the last four decades.

His work at Oakland Consulting, themanagement consultancy firm he set up in the
mid-1980s, has benefited blue chip companies
across Europe, including names as familiar as
ABB, Airbus and EDF. Quality professionals andsenior managers over the world trust what
Oakland Consulting says and place their faith
in the robustness of the advice they receive.

develop a new framework, which better
suited the work of quality professionals in
the 21st Century.
He endlessly and enthusiastically gives
his own time to the CQI as part of ourMembership Council, and allows us tobenefit from support from other membersof the Oakland team. He’s just one of thosepeople who, if you need a five-minutephone call or even a day or two of theirtime, he’ll do it without question. At a time
when we are perhaps a little distrustfulof the qualifications of many gurus, he iscertainly worthy of the term and thoroughly
deserving of this honorary award.

HonoraryAward
In recent years, John has set up the Oakland
Institute, an academic research institutethat sits alongside Oakland Consulting. He
is also Emeritus Professor of Total Quality
Management at Leeds University Business
School and a fellow of the Chartered
Quality Institute.

Most importantly, he has retained his
enthusiasm for the quality profession and hiswork. When the CQI was looking to develop
a new competency framework, John joined
our task force, free-of-charge, as Chairman tolead the project. He insisted that we threw
out the old framework in its entirety, andEstelle Clark
Director of Policy,
Chartered Quality
InstituteQUALITY TEAM OF
THE YEAR | WINNER

Quality
Team ofthe Year
Name: Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk
Producers’ Union Ltd (Banas Dairy)
Location: Gujarat, India“Dairy husbandry in India
is mostly done by women.
By improving the quality
structure of this industry, we
have been able to strengthen
their economic empowerment
and provide them with moredisposable income, which
they can then spend on health,nutrition and education for theirchildren. An agent for societal
and environmental change: thatis the true potential of quality.”

The story of how Banas Dairy grew to
become India’s leading dairy cooperative
is both an inspiring and fascinating one.
Established in 1969 as part of the Gujarat
Cooperative Societies Act 1961, the dairy has
grown to become the largest in India, selling
products such as milk, butter, ghee and ice
cream to a global customer base.

The dairy has also been instrumental in theeconomic empowerment and well-being of
thousands of dairy farmers and their families
in Gujarat. Bipin Patel, In-charge Managing
Director, explains: “The milk producers are thereal owners of the organisation. Their interests
are our interests.”

To emphasise this, the cooperative has a Boardof elected members, all of whom represent
the region’s milk producers. “Our Board acts
as a representative of the dairy farmers,” says
Bipin. “They help us to build policies based on
the interests of the producers and advise us
on support services such as animal breeding,husbandry and disease prevention.”
But what role does quality play in this?
Essentially, it can be broken down into three
key areas: maintaining the wellbeing of thelocal community, maintaining a consistent andprofessional approach within the business, andbuilding a global brand reputation.
Bipin states: “Our employees are our best
asset, so we need to ensure that they havethe knowledge and skills they need to best
perform their duties.
“As this is the food industry, this knowledge
includes everything from best practice for
quality to food safety, conservation and theefficient handling of operational issues.
“We’ve also integrated a quality system
across the supply chain, and have been
experimenting with new management
concepts, such as Six Sigma, which has
helped us to maintain consistent output
within process management.”
Since the cooperative was first formed, it has
had a particular focus on the empowermentof women, who traditionally manage dairy
husbandry in India. By investing in the training
and development of its dairy farmers,
the cooperative has brought economic
empowerment to each community, allowing
families to have more disposable income
for vital services, such as health, nutritionand education. The cooperative has also
implemented conservation efforts across the
1,290 dairy cooperative societies it represents.
The business is now working on establishingitself as a global brand and is hoping that its
model will inspire other cooperatives, as wellas traditional businesses across India.
Bipin says: “We need to ensure that we
set an example for professional excellence.

In doing so, we can revitalise theeconomy and improve the wellbeing ofcommunities across India and, eventually,around the world.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“The Banas Dairy team has anincredible story to tell, achieving
amazing results across a large
and disparate group of people,
many of whom did not haveaccess to any formal education.
An organization with a difference,that is making a difference. This
dairy cooperative is built on everimproving quality principles andsystems. It has not just createda model for its country – it hascreated a model for the world.”

QUALITY PROFESSIONALOF THE YEAR | FINALIST

Quality
Professionalof the Year
Name: Kerli Saarnik

Role: Quality Manager

Company: BFK / Crossrail

Location: London, United Kingdom“As an industry, quality isreceiving more attention thanit used to. There’s a realisationthat quality needs to lead andinform everything you do –that it isn’t about red-tape orbureaucracy, but about setting
the standard, right from the start,
to optimise the performance ofevery part of a process. A quality
professional should be a problem
solver, not a police officer.”

When one first meets Kerli, a project quality
manager who currently works as part of
the Crossrail project, one is struck by her
enthusiasm, her knowledge and, above all,her strong belief in the transformative roleof quality.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Quality ensures that a project is meetingcustomer expectations”, she states. “It allows
us to advise and support our team, to makesure that we are delivering on our promises.”“It’s not always easy being a female quality professional inwhat remains a very male-dominated industry, but Kerli’s
infectious positivity and determination have led her tobecome a highly successful and influential leader in quality
for the construction industry.”

Kerli’s team provides quality assurance to
BFK (BAM, Ferrovial and Kier), as well as
the client, Crossrail. Its job is to monitor
quality management systems, track KPIs, andconduct independent audits of off-site andon-site subcontractors.

“I’m a hands-on manager, but I do delegate
some of my tasks so that other teammembers can learn, develop and demonstrate
their capabilities to management.”“We always make sure that the products
and services delivered are hitting the rightstandard for our customers,” Kerli explains.
“Company reputations shouldn’t suffer as aresult of quality failures.”

Kerli’s attention to detail has often helped
her to identify failures or non-compliance ineven the most well-established companies.

“We recently had a UKAS-accredited
testing house perform a test on our site –something they have done for numerous
other railway stations across the country. We
carried out a standard surveillance on theirwork and noticed several instances in which
they did not comply with our standards.”
Kerli manages a team of just three people,
which often makes it hard to separate
control and assurance.

“An achievement of which I’m particularly
proud was getting the construction teams totake ownership of quality by checking theirwork and preparing handover documentation.
This demonstrates how quality can (andshould) be built, rather than inspected, into
standard business processes.”

Kerli is also the first quality professional toreceive Crossrail’s Employee of the YearAward. “I’ve positioned my role as one of aproblem-solver. I want my team to respect meand seek my advice as an expert in my field.”“Being a member of the CQI has definitely
benefited my work,” she says. “I have accessto a wealth of information. As a communityof quality professionals, it’s a great way tobuild your industry knowledge, keep up-todate with the latest trends and, perhaps mostimportantly, learn from each other’s mistakes.”

Finalist
Quality
Professionalof the YearQUALITY PROFESSIONALOF THE YEAR | FINALISTName: Arlene Aguilar

Role: Quality Assurance Manager
Company: Faithful + Gould
Location: Qatar“Generally speaking, the Quality Manager’s role is oneof process improvement and development. However,it’s also about embedding an open culture, encouraging
feedback and suggestions, and building bridges
between different process owners. A quality manager
is a communicator, enabling her company to win anddeliver, time and again.”

As a global project and programmemanagement consultancy, Faithful + Gould
supports high-value construction projects
across a range of industries, including nuclear
energy, commercial property and education.
Its work must always embody its threecore values: professionalism, collaborationand productivity.

In Qatar, it is Quality Manager, Arlene Aguilar’s
responsibility to make sure that these values
are maintained at all times, both by the businessand its suppliers.
“My quality activity must be aligned to that of
the group as a whole,” she says. “We have a
global quality team that oversees the executionof our business assurance programme andassociated audit schedules. I then build this into
my job, which is primarily focused on projects
in the Middle East.
“One of my main responsibilities is to growour digital strategy and increase the successof our digital systems within the constructionindustry. I ensure that we are recording any
lessons learned from current construction
projects and share these across the business.
Any failures in systems or manual processes
can then be noted and corrected for
future projects.”

Faithful + Gould has consulted on a numberof large-scale, not to mention visually-striking
construction projects in the Middle East. These
have included the Mall of Saudi in Riyadh, theFairmont Hotel and Serviced Apartments in
Abu Dhabi and the Royal Atlantis in Dubai.
Arlene says: “I regularly conduct risk-based
audits to ensure that the organisation’s
policies, processes and plans reflect the client’s
needs. We call this being ‘client-centric’.”“We also identify problems by allowing eachmember of the team to speak freely andopenly. These risks are then relayed to theright people who, by following our governanceprocesses and audit systems, can give us theanswers, support and solutions we need.”

Arlene has been IRCA-certified since February
2012. “It’s not always easy being a Lead Auditor
and I often need to prove my honest intentions
in order to earn the trust and respect of thepeople around me. Being a member of the
CQI has definitely helped to bring out the best
version of myself.”
For Arlene, the role of Quality Manager is
one of both a communicator and facilitator. “Ineed to listen to, seek out and influence open
conversations, and make sure that feedback
is heard by the right people,” she concludes.
“Ultimately, I want to create an organisational
culture that has quality at its heart. This canonly be achieved when you lead by example.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Arlene is a quality professional
who clearly embodies hercompany’s values. As apassionate communicator,
Arlene understands her role as
an ambassador for quality, andis seen by many in her team as ateacher, mentor and coach. These
efforts have been recognised bynumerous company awards andspeaking opportunities over thecourse of her career.”QUALITY PROFESSIONAL IN
A NEW PROJECT | FINALIST

Quality
Professional ina New Project
Name: Rashad Issa
Role: Director

Company: Workplace Options

Location: London, United Kingdom

Workplace Options identifies itself as fastpaced, entrepreneurial and innovative. “We’rethe leading provider of global Employee
Assistance Programmes, and work-life andwellness services,” says Rashad Issa.

Originally joining as a Quality Manager, Rashad
was determined to keep the company’s
fast-paced culture, while making it easierfor different departments to collaborate
and interact.
“I noticed that the operations and service
delivery departments needed to work
effectively together while embodying a costeffective approach,” he says. “Some efforts
were being duplicated and certain projects or
departments were operating in silos. In otherwords: people weren’t talking to each other.”Rashad was tasked with setting up a project
management office to support operational
strategy in a way that involved everyone, fromsenior executives to front-line professionals.
“There was resistance at first,” he states.
“Many in the company were concernedthat project management would damage
the flexibility and speed of our organisation
by being too obstructive and confining any
innovative ideas to spreadsheet tombs.”

Rashad introduced new project management
and risk-tracking tools, most notably the
ASANA tool, which has since grownfrom 50 registered users to 150 within
the organisation. He also set up a Review
Committee for Strategic Goals, which
identifies risks and opportunities, and reviews
the company’s strategy.

“The visibility of our strategy and theincreased interactions between departments
led to our IT, Business Analytics and productdevelopment teams creating and synchronising
their roadmaps for the first time,” he says.
Rashad has also set up an internal training
and development programme for project
management skills. This has since become
the longest-running programme within
the organisation.

“Project managementsounds cumbersome,but if we can make iteasy for an organisation
to implement anddemonstrate positive
results, we canbuild momentum
in a way that they
will have neverexperienced before.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Rashad’s demeanour is so confident andpolished, he wouldn’t look out of place inthe boardroom of a top FTSE100 company.
He is a quality professional who means
business and can deliver quality in a waythat even the uninitiated will recognise
and understand.”

His continued success has recently led
to his promotion as head of project
management, quality & internal training.

“Considering I’m a team of one, operatingout of London, working with a company
that operates out of the USA, Canada,
the Republic of Ireland, France, India, andSingapore, I feel very proud of what I’ve
accomplished,” he states.

Rashad is now also a Chartered Memberof the CQI, an experience that he has
described as “very enriching”. “Working
with core competencies and understanding
how different industries apply them havebeen particularly enlightening,” he says.
“The quality profession is often perceived
as an unnecessary roadblock. I want tochange that and embed a quality culture
across a whole company.”Finalist
Quality
Professional ina New ProjectQUALITY PROFESSIONAL IN
A NEW PROJECT | FINALISTName: Suzanne Burge

Role: Quality and Assurance Manager
Company: ISS World

Location: London, United Kingdom

The phrase “audit-ready” strikes fear intoeven the most stoic of hearts. Imagine then,that you are managing compliance and risk
for a company with over 21,000 employees
in the UK alone, seven certified standards bywhich you must adhere and the possibilityof being audited up to 200 times a year.
“It’s the objective – it’s what the clientneeds,” says Suzanne Burge, Quality andAssurance Manager for facilities services
provider ISS World. “That’s what it’s allabout – making sure the client can trust you
and maintaining that relationship between
the client and your company.”
She continues: “This particular client islarge and complex, which is why my job is
focused solely on managing our relationshipwith its property department.
“When I was first assigned, I knew that I
needed to be confident with the client’s
context and needs. I worked hard tobuild relationships with key personnel
to better understand their requirements
and expectations.”

Suzanne has responsibility for ensuringcertification compliance within its property
department. She began by building an“Quality is about trust.
It’s about making sure
your stakeholders arewith you every stepof the way, and thatthey feel empowered,confident andautonomous in doing
what they need to do.”“Assurance Team”, including
establishing and filling two newroles: Assurance Coordinatorand Management Information
Manager. She also implemented
a Governance, Risk, Compliance(GRC) system – Curoson - to help
manage compliance obligations
within document control, audit
management and risk.
“We needed to make surethat the property department
was “audit-ready” at all times,”
she states. “We began bytackling document control. It
was difficult to establish who/
what had been audited, as audits
were arranged directly between
the two parties. We emphasised
the importance of using theAssurance Team to schedule audits
and report back with their results.

“We were also tasked with moving awayfrom paper-based systems, to device-based
ones, which would suit our mobile teams
much better. Self-assessment audits, forexample, can now be done through an app.”
Suzanne and her team have been
instrumental in streamlining compliance andrisk management systems for their client.

She says: “As a team, we need to know which
standards are in place and how to provide
evidence that we’re adhering to them, all thewhile ensuring that we continue to carry out
the services we are contractually required to
do and support the client with their audits.”“ISS’s client relationships are key and we placea large focus on autonomy and trust. Long
standing clients like this one are important
examples of why quality can, and should beembodied as part of any client-facing role.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Achieving “auditready” status for clientsthat are as large andcomplex as ISS is nomean feat by anyone’s
standards. Yet, fromthe outset, Suzanne
has demonstrated her
ability to take charge.
She’s a real championof her team, and of thequality industry as
a whole.”EMERGINGTALENT | FINALISTName: Sonia Mills
Role: Project Quality Representative

Quality wasn’t something that struck former
nanny Sonia Mills as a career choice. “Icame into it,” she says. “After moving from
Poland ten years ago, I joined an oil & gas
company. After its UK operation closed, arecruitment company introduced me to thequality industry.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“The organisational structure of Sonia’s company is very
interesting and will provide a range of challenges andexperiences to help her continuing development.”

Emerging
TalentCompany: Fluor Limited UK

Location: Farnborough, United Kingdom“It’s tricky being a young
woman in this industry. I
constantly need to prove myself.
Being nominated for this award
validates the work that I do.”Sonia started in administration, but soon
decided to develop her skills. “I was excited
at how varied the quality industry is. You
can find yourself working in anything frompharmaceuticals to construction. I was keen to
move into management and auditing, where
I could take on more responsibility and makemore quality-based decisions,” she says.

Sonia is currently Project Quality
Representative at Fluor Limited UK, a businessproviding integrated engineering, procurement,
construction management, maintenance, andproject management services to EMEA clients.
“I have to liaise with different departments
and coordinate any engineering activities fromthe perspective of a Project Quality System,”she says. “We use the Fluor Operating System,
which defines the requirements for executing
each project. This must feed into every projectbaseline, alongside any quality requirements
specified by the client.

“I also ensure that deliverables and quality
services meet requirements using a range oftechniques, including project audits, spot-checks,
surveillances and approved audit programmes.”
Sonia continues: “I love what I do because
it helps both clients and my company as awhole. Clients can be confident that they
will meet their quality goals, and we canconstantly improve our internal systems.”

Sonia recognises that quality teams areoften perceived as burdensome – an image
she’s working hard to disprove. “The quality
profession is highly collaborative and canbenefit any project department,” she states.
“I liaise with all affected parties to makesure that everyone is kept informed andcan input their views. This helps me to do
my job to the highest possible standard.”
Sonia is now keen to gain moreexperience, particularly within oil & gas. “I’dlove to learn more about quality and how
it is applied to other industries,” she says.
“I would especially like to be part of theteam developing the next ISO standards.
“Always ask yourself: ‘How can quality helpme, or others, to get our tasks completed
to the highest possible standard?’ Thereinlies the true value of quality.”Finalist
Emerging
Talent

EMERGING
TALENT | FINALISTName: Ashleigh Pritt
Role: Quality Engineer
Company: Jacobs Engineering UK
Location: Carlisle, United Kingdom“Quality isn’t your average job – no two days are thesame and I’m hardly ever desk-bound. I think it’s vitalthat future generations are aware of this.”

Ashleigh Pritt may be young, but what
she lacks in years, she makes up for inenthusiasm. “My work tends to be reactive,
so a confident, proactive approach is vital inorder to stay ahead,” she says. “Working forsuch a large, international organisation also
requires me to keep on top of what our
subsidiaries, partners and offices are doing.”

Since joining Jacobs Engineering UK as anapprentice at the age of 17, Ashleigh has
become a key member of the company’s
Quality Management team. “Jacobs is oneof the world’s largest providers of technical,
professional and construction services,” shestates. “As well as 54,000 employees basedin more than 230 locations, we also havea number of joint ventures with different
businesses at both a national and local level.
“This often makes things complicated. Eachpartner has its own quality system in place,as do some of our international offices. It’s
my job to make sure these align.”
Jacobs operates an Integrated Management
System that combines the requirements ofISOs 9001, 14001 and 18001, as well as thecompany’s standard operating procedures andvalue-enhancing practices.
Ashleigh uses all of these to plan and measure
the success of quality-related activities. She
says: “I produce a Quality Plan, in which I
detail a project’s procedures and deliverables.
I also conduct regular audits and reports,
which have often been commended by myclients. In some cases, they have implemented
my audit systems themselves!”
Over and above her work as a Quality
Engineer, Ashleigh is working hard to engage
the next generation. “I started out as anapprentice, so I know how tough it can be,”she says. “You have to be ready to learn
and exploit every opportunity you can.
I’m currently taking my Level 5 Diploma in
Quality, but my educational development
won’t stop there.”

Ashleigh also makes use of her membershipwith the CQI to further her training anddevelopment. “Being in the CQI has benefited
my work greatly,” she states. “It has allowed
me to train and network with other members
and has definitely been a boost to my career.”

As a Quality Discipline Lead and a STEM
(science, technology, engineering and maths)
ambassador, Ashleigh is now working closelywith new and potential engineers. “Mydepartment has taken on more apprentices
recently and I’ve been appointed to mentor
them,” she says. “I also work at schools to
promote engineering and quality as possible
careers and to give advice.”“I’d like to become a Quality Manager one
day, but I’ll also continue working with younger
generations to prove just how rewarding andvaluable a career in quality can be.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Articulate and passionate,
Ashleigh’s awareness of herorganisation and its quality
systems is impressive. Her
commitment to supporting
and advising the next
generation of engineers means
we may just have a futureindustry leader in the making.”

LEADERSHIPAWARD | FINALISTName: Tony Blanch
Role: Business Improvement Director

to stabilise the business,” he says. “This has
since become the foundation upon which
subsequent improvements have been madeand has led to the development of my mostimportant KPIs: leadership engagement andemployee ownership.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Tony is a born leader. He cares about his team and is proudof what he has achieved. The reputation of both Tony andhis team precedes them everywhere they go. People acrossthe industry are taking note of Tony’s successes and want towork with him.”

Leadership
Award
Company: Costain

Location: Maidenhead, United Kingdom

The Costain Way is more than just a codeof conduct for new employees at the UK’s
leading voice for construction projects. It’s aguideline for quality that is embodied by every
employee at the 4,000-strong firm.
The man behind its implementation anddevelopment is Business Improvement
Director, Tony Blanch, who leads a communityof over 70 quality professionals across bothcontract-specific and central team roles.

“Costain has a clear, customer-focused strategy,
which it has developed over many years,”
he says. “A detailed understanding of the
Costain Way is a pre-requisite for any quality
professional looking to join the team. It’s also
a key part of their on-boarding process andis reinforced throughout their time here by
regular assessments.”
Many in the industry view Tony as a credit to
the profession. During his time at Costain, he
has defined the role of the quality professionalby providing a clear structure for both his
team and the business. He now works directlywith the Board to ensure a strong culture ofquality is maintained at all times.
“Many years ago, I led the establishment of arisk-based management system, which helped

Tony maintains an open dialogue withquality professionals across the industry andhas also liaised with the Chartered Quality
Institute for the provision of training andemployee development programmes. He
ensures that his team fully understands its
roles and responsibilities within the contextof The Costain Way, using innovative
solutions such as smartphone apps toincrease employee engagement.
“The CQI’s Competency Framework ofgovernance, assurance and improvement,
together with leadership, has provided the“I envision a future
where a quality teamexists as the second or
third line of defence; afuture where quality is
hardwired throughout
an organisation,with everyone
taking responsibility
for getting it rightfirst time.”business improvement team with aconsistent structure and focus,” he states.

“Employee ownership remains a
key factor. They need to maintain anunderstanding of how quality fits into
their job and feel empowered to makequality decisions. Being a member of the
CQI consolidates this understanding,and gives them a framework for theirpersonal, and professional, development.”
Tony’s activities have certainly paidoff, with Costain securing 90 per centrepeat business from customers. The
company also declared its best-everfinancial results in 2016.

Tony concludes: “I want to keep thismomentum and find new ways toensure that quality remains a toppriority for everyone. Right now, we’reapplying behavioural science to quality
in order to establish antecedents andconsequences, which will ultimately drive
the adoption of desired behaviours
throughout the organisation.”

Finalist
Leadership
Award

LEADERSHIPAWARD | FINALISTName: Emma McNab

Role: Business Excellence Director
Company: Taylor Woodrow

Location: Watford, United Kingdom“A successful quality culture is oneof continuous improvement; one inwhich the entire team can learn anddevelop. My job is to ensure that allcommunication can be heard andunderstood by the entire business,regardless of an employee’s roleor seniority. I want everyone, fromthe graduate to the executive, tounderstand why quality must be
an important part of their work.”
The role of a quality leader isn’t that of adictator, but of a collaborator and integrator.
That’s according to Business Excellence
Director Emma McNab, whose influence has
led to the adoption and ownership of qualitybased initiatives across the whole company.
“I’m a firm believer that the best way
to develop a quality strategy is to becollaborative,” she states. “You need complete

engagement, not just from within the quality
team, but across every company department.”

Emma leads a quality team at Taylor Woodrow,the civil engineering division of VINCIConstruction UK, Founded in 1921. The businesshas been behind iconic construction projects
such as Mulberry Harbours in the 1940s, theworld’s first nuclear power station in the 1950s,
and, more recently, the Western Concourse
at London’s King’s Cross. “Taylor Woodrow
takes a customer-focused approach,” she says.
“The business has five core values: excellence,collaboration, innovation, integrity and discipline.
As a quality team, we need to embody anddisseminate these values across everything we
do. This is not always easy to achieve. We’re awidely dispersed team, often split across morethan ten projects at any one time.”
For this reason, Emma needed to find waysof synchronising activity within the quality
team and maintaining an open dialogue.
“We started by defining all of thebusiness’s requirements and objectives,
which are usually driven by external
stakeholders,” she explains. “We thenadded two quality-focused businessobjectives concerning defect-free,right-first-time delivery, and thecost of non-conformances. We
rolled these out across thewhole company via a Business
Management System.”
Defect-free deliveries and nonconformance reports have now
become KPIs for Emma’s quality
team, which has reported a 95 percent year-on-year increase in thenumber of defect-free inspections
since the Business Management System
was rolled out.

Emma says: “I’m now seeing teams other thanmine take ownership of quality initiatives. There’s
also an open and creative dialogue concerning
quality and what it means. One employee,for example, recently demonstrated theimportance of inspection and test plans using
the act of cooking breakfast as an analogy!”
For Emma, open communication is a vital
part of any collaborative, quality-led company
infrastructure. “I always try to lead the quality
culture by example, and continually challengebusiness leaders to discuss quality more
openly,” she states. “Being a member of the
CQI has helped. Exposure to the wider quality
management community helps to inspire newideas and alternative points-of-view. All of thiscan be brought to my work, where it can reachmore people and improve their own quality
processes. This means that we can make better
decisions, while also balancing the pressuresof time, cost, and health and safety. The impactof this on a business’s finances, reputation andemployee morale cannot be understated.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“Right from the start, Emma
impressed us with hercommitment and approachto open communication.
Through her strong
leadership as a Business
Excellence Director, she has
built a culture of sharing
and learning, in which
everyone is encouraged
to acknowledge failures,celebrate successes, andcontinue to grow as a team.”QUALITY TEAM OF
THE YEAR | FINALIST

Quality
Team ofthe Year
Name: Costain

Location: Maidenhead, United Kingdom“It’s important to go back to basics when
designing a management system,” says David
Sanders, a member of Costain’s Business
Improvement Team. “We need to ask
ourselves: ‘what do people want to know?’ and‘how do we want them to use this system?’.”Established in 1865, Costain provides
consultancy, complex delivery, technology andasset optimisation services to projects acrossthe UK’s energy, water and transportation
infrastructures. Growing from two jobbing
builders to a business of more than 4,000
employees, Costain has become the leadingindustry voice for major construction projects
in the UK, including the Thames Barrier andMagnox Bradwell’s nuclear processing facility.

“Our strategy is ‘Engineering Tomorrow’, statesDavid. “We need to demonstrate that we arecapable of delivering projects in a safe, costeffective and environmentally-friendly way,particularly if they involve hazardous materials
like nuclear waste.”
Costain’s quality team is one of the mostwell-established in the industry. Known as
the ‘Business Improvement Team’, it works
with process owners and management toimplement The Costain Way through practicaluser guides, engagement with top-level
management and forums on incorporating
quality into business strategy.

“We work with ‘The Costain Way’, which isthe business’s formal management system,”David says. “It defines the processes andprocedures Costain needs to minimise risk
exposure and must be understood andactioned by everyone in the business.”“We’re one of the few quality teams inour sector to be accredited by, and contain,
certified quality professionals,” says David.
“We therefore need to make sure that thisknowledge is disseminated throughout thebusiness and we do this by holding regulartraining sessions, particularly in areas in which
our audits have identified potential problems.

“We also use the CQI’s Competency
Framework to structure our business
improvement approach and have adopted the“The Business
Improvement Teamat Costain is good atwhat it does. Beinga finalist at the CQIInternational Quality
Awards is a great way
of showcasing that.
It’s an affirmationfrom an independent
organisation that we’re
doing the right thing.”

CQI’s World Quality Day as World Quality
Week, which has helped to reinvigorate ourdrive for excellence.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“The Business Improvement
Team’s pride and confidence
in what they do is evident.
Through their efforts and the
support of business leaders, theyIt seems they certainly have, if recent successes
have made quality a board-level
are anything to go by. “The Costain Way
has now been adopted by a number of ourpriority – a pretty impressive
business partners,” David states. “We’ve also
made business assurance a Board-level concern,
achievement for the construction
on a par with health and safety. As far as I’mconcerned, it’s all one and the same thing!”
sector in particular!”
The team has had a highly positive impact for
Costain. “We have great relationships withsenior management and embody ideals of
leadership and mentorship. It’s important thatthe rest of the business works with us, so weneed to demonstrate the value in doing so.”

QUALITY TEAM OF
THE YEAR | FINALIST

Quality
Team ofthe Year
Name: Crossrail

Location: London, United Kingdom“For Crossrail, quality
is paramount. Takecare of quality, andsafety will follow.
Crossrail has a strong
safety record thanks
to a strong quality
culture that is built –not inspected – into
everything we do.”It’s the construction story that’s been the talkof London – an innovative excavation project
bringing further connectivity to one of theworld’s leading subterranean railway networks.
As spectators, we’ve come to associate the
Crossrail project with some striking visuals,
from its giant tunnelling machines, to thepurple-clad ribbon-cutting attended by the
new line’s namesake, Queen Elizabeth herself.
What we may not have noticed, however,are the hundreds of professionals behind thescenes keeping the project running smoothly.

“Our team consists of quality professionals
from across civil, mechanical, electrical andrail systems engineering,” says Christopher
Titterton, Head of Quality. “Many ofthem have prior experience in major rail
developments, such as the Channel Tunnel,
the Jubilee Line Extension Project andThameslink. It’s like one big family, moving
through its career, from one project tothe next!”
The team at Crossrail is made up of 150
employees, as well as 100 contractors, allof whom are required to have at least one
certified quality professional as part oftheir team.

Christopher says: “The Crossrail projectwill be expected to operate safely andwith minimal maintenance for centuries
to come. We therefore need to assure
sponsors, including the Department forTransport and Transport for London, as
well as infrastructure managers and thegeneral public, that the programme is being
governed and delivered correctly to thehighest possible standards.

“We use a Crossrail Management System,
which is accessed via a web portal. This setsout and mandates the governance processes
and procedures adopted at corporate
level, and outlines all strategies, policies,
plans, procedures and guidance notes in aformalised content management system.”
The Crossrail Management System meetsthe requirements of BS EN ISO 9001 forquality, BS EN ISO 19001 for environment,
and BS OHSAS 18001 for occupational

health and safety. Its main role is to ensurethat each member of the team is properly
briefed, understands the full extent of his
responsibilities, and can identify areas of
improvement on a six-monthly basis.
“All of our quality professionals understandthat the good governance of our organisation
relates directly to the standard of the finishedproduct,” Christopher says. “Applicableassurance requirements form the backbone ofeach quality team member’s job description.
“Crossrail’s quality model is ten years aheadof the rest of the construction industry. We’ve
run a series of events since 2013 to raiseawareness of, and drive improvement in quality
management across the Crossrail project.
“It’s my hope that this approach will transformconstruction quality for the better. It’s simple
really – no quality management, no Crossrail!”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID:“The construction industry has
a shortage of certified quality
professionals, but there’s a clear
passion at Crossrail to change
this. Crossrail is definitely putting
its money where its mouth is. The
organisation is committed to thequality capability of its staff andcontractors and is determined todemonstrate the value of a ‘rightfirst time’ approach to as wide anaudience as possible.”The Chartered Quality Institute2nd Floor North, Chancery Exchange,
10 Furnival Street, London EC4A 1AB, United Kingdom
Incorporated by Royal Charter andregistered as charity number 259678