Activities related to Phase 2 - Organization

  • Start organizing regular (weekly) staff meetings.

    Discuss the following items during these staff meetings:

    • Regular issues
    • Quality issues
    • Nonconformities: complaints received, accidents, defects of equipment/facility, organization complications (illness of staff), errors in documents (SOPs), etc.
    • Safety issues
    • Status of open action points (if present).

    Minutes should be made of each meeting and these should be made available to all personnel and archived. The minutes should include the names of the staff members present and absent at the meeting.

    The SLMTA provides a job aid helping to organize effective staff meetings. This was adapted from the website http://www.meetingwizard.org/ which provides much more information on organizing effective meetings.

    * Generic Outline of Minutes

    * SLMTA Job Aid: Tips for Effective Staff Meetings
  • The laboratory is recognized and accepted as a national or regional reference laboratory and is legally identifiable.

    Laboratory in the public sector: Obtain formal documentation from national/regional authorities (e.g. ministry of health) that the laboratory is recognized as a reference laboratory.

    Laboratory in the private sector: make sure that the legal status of the laboratory is recognized by the appropriate authority (Chamber of Commerce).

    Store this documentation well; in phase 3 the quality manual needs to be written. The documentation will need to be included in the quality manual as annex. The reason for this is that the laboratory should be able to deliver evidence of its recognition as reference laboratory and that it should be legally identifiable, either through being part of the government or through the chamber of commerce.

    		  
  • In phase 1 the organizational chart of the laboratory was developed. Revise this organizational chart to the situation created in phase 2.

    At this phase a quality officer will be appointed (under Personnel). Include the quality officer in the organizational chart. As the quality officer and biosafety officers have advisory functions, these positions should not be placed in line with management but as positions providing input. For more clarity consult the template phase 2 organizational chart.

    * Template Phase 2 Organizational Chart