In its efforts to promote and sustain high levels of productivity and safety in the workplace, the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) held an audit on good housekeeping last April 24-27, 2023.

This aims to ensure the agency’s compliance to the 5S—Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain—which contributes to the efficient delivery of quality policy services to its agriculture and fisheries stakeholders.

Among the commendable findings were the cleanliness of workplaces, the provision of alcohol dispensers in common areas, the name cards on desks for easy identification of personnel, the timely disposal of valueless records, and the locator charts for easy tracking staff whereabouts.

Opportunities for Improvement were also identified and presented during the auditors’ conference and closing meeting on April 28 and May 2, 2023, respectively. These were the fast-tracking of repair/replacement of defective machines and disposal of other valueless records and equipment/furniture as well as the development of a quality procedure on good housekeeping.

Carolyn Tabangcura of the Administrative, Financial, and Management Division led the audit on the PCAF’s four divisions and the Office of the Executive Director.

As a certified ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems (QMS) Lead Auditor, she explained that the main purpose of conducting audits is to seek continual improvement in the systems and processes of the organization that leads to the delivery of quality services.

“Ang goal talaga ng audit ay bantayan ang procedures ng PCAF for continual improvement, lalo na sa pagdeliver ng quality services sa ating mga stakeholders. We also check the client feedback to see what improvements we can incorporate in our QMS,” Tabangcura said.

Tabangcura, with 40 years of public service, acquired her ISO 9001 QMS Lead Auditor certification on April 13, 2023.

“I’m thankful for the support of the management in this training because aside from personal development, this will also help me fulfill my public service more effectively and efficiently,” she added.

The audit on good housekeeping is also a preparatory activity for PCAF’s annual ISO 9001:2015 recertification audit in October. | JCL