Coaching Starts

This week was quite a relief after handing over the Vice President post to the new Nusajaya Sports and Recreational Club (NSRC) members after serving for 2 terms (4 years). It was also a busy day preparing for the NSRC AGM and a religious function later in the evening in order to catch the Managing Director's time.

Later in the week I had a session with Nazir and he highlighted the matter on the report submitted by EMP Consultants to the us are insufficient. He explained on the normal requirement of reports and I asked him what the probable things that he will need to do before next discussions with the Project Team. There are still questions that he was not sure of answering I do tend to probe him with some probable answers.... but yet ask him to think further. Of course he has to check and read through the Letters of Appointment before we can inform the consultant of the lack of information provided in the reports. The session took about 40 mins

We also discussed and Nazir explained about the different categories of sampling required for each development and the possible mitigation factors that can be taken into account.

5 April 2009 VOL

Had a few sessions, unofficial / official with Nazir, mainly for letter writing/reports. He has yet to muster the art of writing effectively. Yet he ensures he gets my consent and will follow up with me if I owe him comments on his reports/letters.

Nazir just joined the company on 3 April 2009 and is familiarizing himself with the company’s policies and procedures. There are some interesting feedbacks from him and he improves what is required for the environmental unit especially on the deliverables expected out of the monthly environmental monitoring reports submitted by the Consultants.

Much earlier, a notice letter from Department of Environment (DOE) was issued to one of the Project Team (PT) and they were upset. The head actually blamed us for not taking care of DOE and hence the notice. Several discussions were held and Nazir handle the matter professionally, based on his experience and background. He will update me and ensure I am aware of the happenings. The PT failed to understand that they are required to mitigate the issues raised by DOE and not covering it up.

At the same time, we are also going around to all HODs, going through their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and briefing them on Continuous Improvement Projects that they are required to identify and submit.

29 Mar 2009_VOL

Apart from attending the Risk Management Meeting in Kuala Lumpur office, this week we coordinated trainings on Environmental Management System (EMS) awareness to Heads of Depts. / Representatives and EMS workshop to the Project Management Team and their Contractors.

It was an interactive workshop whereby the second half of the day was conducted on site and identifying what was learnt earlier the day. Questions were asked on the how to conduct inspections and to carry out maintenance. One thing for sure from the Project Team is they try to come out with quite some interesting excuses on why they did not carry out the maintenance.

It was quite a disappointment from the Heads of Department (HODs) as the response in attendance was pretty poor. Most of them had their junior representatives and a couple of departments did not even send a representative! The workshops are vital to ensure they comply with the environmental management system and in minimizing environmental impact within/surrounding their projects.

This was critical as the company is going for the ISO 14001:2004 standards certification in Q3 of 2009.

Anyway, was requested by Marketing & Sales Dept early of the week to present on RAMZAR site adjacent to Nusajaya, to a group of potential investors for East Ledang on 28 March 2009 which happens to be the date for Earth Hour. Went through the Book on “Biodiversity of Sungai Pulai, RAMZAR Site”. Discussed with Nazir (Environmental Executive) on some of the issues that may arise from the briefing.

Surprisingly, come to think of it, quite a number of times without me realizing it, I did coaching to Nazir on Environmental issues raised by him…. The problem is how to capture and report it!

22 Mar 2009_Voice of Leadership

Hi, I am back and currently undergoing the next stage of the Master's program - The Voice of Leadership.

The first VOL was attended on1-3 December 2008. The session can be a bit confusing at certain times but had a good feeling especially when we had to write something to the 8 people (participants) who has made an impact during our 3 days training session! Received 10 post-it-notes from the rest of the participants.

It was quite a task to remember the details of what we took back from the first session! The assignment should have been immediately required.

Finally attended VOL follow-up on 19 & 20 March 2009 after a tight schedule earlier and not able to attend it earlier.

The follow-up was very refreshing, found to be very practical, and relates to what we are doing in principle. It was very interesting that what we thought as doing ‘Coaching’ were actually ‘Teaching’!

21 June till 4 July 2008

A QMS ISO Steering Committee Meeting was carried out in KL. Presented the draft Quality Manual including the policy to the Committee. It was agreed earlier to transfer the existing certification of one of its subsidiaries to UEML. The committee decided to integrate the QMS ISO with the OHSAS.. They have also asked to appoint a consultant to ensure that the processes to be identified for the QMS.

They also requested for the EMS to be included too. However, we advised that the staffs will not be able to handle too many changes at one time. The major change to implement the QMS ISO procedures is hard enough as some are reluctant to provide due to time constraint, they say.

In consultation with one of our J/V Company, Horizon Hills Sdn Bhd, a consultant was identified as they have done consultancy for some of the major property developers in Malaysia. 2 other consultants were identified in order to comply with our tendering procedures as per the Red Book (one of the initiatives for Govt Linked Companies – GLC).

Discussions were then held with the 3 Consultants for them to submit their financial and technical proposal for us to carry out an integrated systems, audits and the required trainings and awareness.

The same week, HIRARD inspections were carried out. It was identified earlier during the first compliance audit. The OSH-MS manual was also discussed and reviewed with 3 other project personnel and they commented on the relevancy and do-able procedures. Some of the comments were very positive and was adopted.

During this period, a study tour to the Fire & Rescue Dept was conducted for the appointed Emergency Response Team members. It was as an exposure to the activities that are being carried out by the fire fighters. Briefings on the equipment used, getting up in the sky lifts of up to 70 metres high, abseiling, and also riding on their vehicles.

The team had a lot of fun and we ended the session with tokens to all the fire fighters (22 of them) involved in making the event successful.

Next we had the OHSAS Main Committee meeting later in the week, issues arising were discussed, especially on the issues of the accident at project site as it is within Nusajaya. The PMC, and the Contractor were brought in to present to us on the accident and action to be taken were discussed.The Managing Director showed his concerns for the deceased family and asked the contractor to ensure all money due or claimable to be delivered to the family.

We then had a launching ceremony at the end of the week for the new OSHE Policy to be shared with all staffs within the UEML. We had the honour of the Managing Director to cut the ribbon to launch the policy. Letters of appointment were handed over to the new Employer and Employee representatives (with each given a cap) together with the appointed First Aiders (provided with T-shirts). The event ended with a photo taking sessions of all the appointed members.

http://intranet.uemland.com/home/news/highlights/1020607479/Article.aspx

Main OSHE Committee & Emergency Response Team members

7 June till 20 June 2008

Risk management meeting was attended and issues on Environmental team was highlighted to be formed. Issues on manpower was also raised and HR was to screen and identify the candidates immediately.

I6 June 2008 morning about 11am, our Safety Manager informed that he is off to site visit and I requested to follow, unknowingly, a fatal accident had happened half an hour earlier. He assumed that I was informed.

That indicates the communication flow that I need to address within the dept. The police were informed by the contractor prior to our arrival at the place of incident. The project site is managed by the Project Management Consultant ( OPUS Bhd - a subsidiary of the UEM Group of companies). The Contractor's safety officer from UEM Construction, briefed us on the incident and we advised them on the necessary actions that needs to be taken in the future.

Apparently, the trench had caved in as there were no proper shoring to the sides. To make things worst, a shallower trench was dug hardly 2 ft away from the deeper trench and was filled with rain water the night before. Reminders were given to the contractors by the PMC and project personnel even during the meeting held the week before but no actions were taken by the contractors to improve the situations.

Stop work order for 2 weeks were issued by the Dept of Occ Safety & Health and will remain until they satisfy DOSH's requirements.

The contractors were required to also attend to the deceased and make the necessary claims with the insurance,etc

By the evening a memo was issued out to all the other Project Heads and advised to ensure all necessary requirements and safety precautions are adhered to and made the above case as an example of what might happen if they do not take heed of safety requirements.

Sometimes it takes something tragic to make us realize the importance of compliance.

6 June 2008

Attended the closing ceremony of the UEM Group Sports Carnival followed by a training on Quality Management Representative. The following day, a meeting was held with Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd a Township Development Authority of Putrajaya, a Government Administrative Development.

Set up for the dept of Occ. Safety, Health & Environment were discussed and arrangement for a study tour and site visit was agreed upon, subject to our management’s approval.

From the discussion, issues arising from their experience were identified and examples given. Namely the issues were quite similar in terms of coordinating with 3^rd party property developer within the development.

Later in the week, the draft for the new OSH policy was discussed and was forwarded to Corporate Communications dept for consistency with the company’s branding, mission and vision statement. Feedbacks were obtained and amendments carried out. The new policy was then submitted to the CEO for his signature.

Vetting through of the new upgraded OHSAS manual was also done and commented.

Preparations for the launching of the new OSH policy, Appointment of Main OSH Committee members and the balance of the Emergency Response Team was coordinated and assigned to the immediate staff of QAOSHE dept.