| By Zena Henry Directors of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) will have to act quickly if they are to save their prestigious International Standard Organization (ISO) certification that it is now under threat due to the lack of staff accommodation and a backlog of mining permits.Last April when an ISO audit was conducted, the organization was given 45 days to comply with those ISO management objectives primarily.Directors are peeved since they say that the current state of affairs is no doing of theirs. A source told Kaieteur News that millions of dollars had to be spent to meet requirements, and hard work on the staffers’ part amounted to the agency becoming one of the first mining companies to achieve the ISO 14001 certification,Jerseys NFL Cheap, but the entity has been unable to maintain it to date.That may however change if the agency is unable to fix its space and permit-granting issues by January 2014 – when another audit is expected for re-certification.The rental of a building (former Co-op Complex) at Regent and Light Streets would have significantly aided with the space congestion; and that is why, the source said, GGMC’s board of directors had already approved the decision to move to the said location.The source said that the newly constructed building at the agency’s compound would have also aided with space congestion while keeping staffers at a central location. That building, which was constructed at a cost to GGMC of some $60M, is now being occupied after being taken over by the less than two-year-old Natural Resources Ministry which from its formation in 2011, was housed at the Office of the President.Much contention arose over the Agency’s intent to move, with the Natural Resources Minister issuing a statement, which indicated that the GGMC had no intention to move to Regent Street and lashed out at this newspaper for, “printing inaccuracies without confirmation.” But documentation provided to Kaieteur News showed that the decision had already been finalized and approved by the agency’s board, with the move being scheduled for the new week. All this, Kaieteur News was told, was for the sole reason of easing space congestion and to comply with the ISO objectives.In terms of the backlog of permits, Kaieteur News was informed that from December 5 of last year to July of this year,Cheap NHL Jerseys China, GGMC was instructed to grant no permits, resulting in a backlog of some 3000 applications, thus causing a violation of the ISO requirement; “Improvement in customer satisfaction and feedback,.” and more specifically,Authentic Jerseys Cheap, “Annual reduction in process cycle time.”The source divulged further that it was not until a no confidence vote was passed by the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association,Brian Campbell Jersey, along with other mining agencies that the granting of permits resumed. The purpose for the halt,Wholesale China NFL Jerseys, the source said, is unknown.GGMC will however face added expenses since more manpower is now needed to speed up the granting process. “This means extra cost for workers’ meals, overtime payments and the involvement of more staff,” the source stressed.The GGMC has been cited for good industrial mining practices beyond legal requirements and as part of the ISO objectives,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, this goes hand in hand with requirements of information into the Gazette being correct initially and “employees participating daily by, complying with GGMC’s Quality System Procedures and work instructions and by doing their jobs right the first time.”Reference to a May 20 memorandum however noted that the decision not to rent the Regent Street building would have, “immediate implications on the Commission’s ability to maintain Certification in ISO Quality Management System.”“As you are aware..,” the reference continued, “GGMC was cited for non-compliance with clause 6.3 of the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System, which requires the organization to provide sufficient infrastructure to achieve conformity to product requirement.”The specific areas of non-compliance were, “(1) large backlog of permits with resulting inability to meet cycle times for a number of permitting processes and (2) Insufficient workspace for additional required resources.” |
