Category Archives: Training and Seminar

As a company that is committed to ensure most satisfied customers, deliver highest quality service and continually improving its quality management system; HomeChoice Planners and Construction Corporation continues to be in sync with its quality policy thru having safe work environment and competent workers. To ensure a safe work environment and competent workers, HPCC provides trainings, awareness and seminars to keep its employees equipped and informed.

HomeChoice Planners and Construction Corporation have recently been collaborating with other institutions and agencies in conducting trainings, seminars and the likes. Last 13th of August, fire drill training was conducted by Bureau of Fire Protection Bulua station. The said training serves as an awareness and prevention of fire; wherein the firefighters discussed the use of fire extinguisher and the dos and don’ts during a fire outbreak. The company also coordinated with Department of Health and recently held its Basic Life Support training to chosen employees of HPCC. Last September 15, project foremen, project assistants, engineers and admin staffs were taught how to respond in a life emergency situation. And just yesterday, September 17, Healthcheck one of the diagnostic clinics here in Cagayan de Oro city was invited to conduct a random drug test to all employees of HPCC. These activities each with different goals have equipped the workers in various aspects; teachings not only limited to construction matters. In this way it has made the workers competent not only in the skills that they know but to other things as well.

Fire drill, random drug test and basic life support training, these are just some of the activities that HomeChoice Planners and Construction Corporation have been busy with lately, but it does not end here. More collaborative activities are in works for the company’s continual improvement, and that includes the worker’s competency, the system and the work environment.

ISO is an independent membership organization and the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards. ISO 9001 is managed by the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland. It is known and commonly used standard for quality management system.

A new version of ISO 9001 appears about every seven years. The first standard was issued in 1987 and at that time you had to describe in detail what your business did. In the 1994 version, it was all about “say what you do and do what you say”. The 2000 version was focused on processes in order to continually improve and thereby increase customer satisfaction. There was nothing added in 2008 but it was more precise about the interpretation of the standard. And then on the 23rd of September 2015, ISO 9001:2015 was published.

With the new edition of ISO 9001, the question is what are its differences from the predecessor? For one, ISO 9001:2015 has ten clauses instead of eight. The first three clauses in ISO 9001:2015 are largely the same as those in ISO 9001:2008, but there are considerable differences from the fourth clause onwards. The last seven clauses are now arranged according to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Clauses 4, 5, 6 and 7 of ISO 9001:2015 come under Plan, clause 8 comes under Do, clause 9 comes under check and clause 10 is covered by Act. With this new procedure, the new ISO 9001 edition strives to give additional momentum to the continuous and systematic improvement of processes within organizations.

ISO 9001:2015 has a high level structure as all standardized management systems. It puts more focus on input and output; measuring and properly assessing the input and output of processes. Risk based thinking is at the core of ISO 9001:2015; encouraging organization to use risk analysis for better management of business processes. Context of the organization is also important for ISO 9001:2015. It now requires an organization to construct its quality management system from the specific context within which it is active. There is extended engagement of interested parties such as the suppliers, personnel, shareholders, legislative bodies, society etc. unlike in the ISO 9001:2008 which was only focused with the customers. Also, there is more emphasis on leadership and management commitment; requiring greater involvement by top managers and business leaders in controlling the quality management system. In ISO 9001:2015, obligatory documented procedures or quality manual is no longer required. It is now referred to as “documented information”; there is no longer any mention of “records” neither, but of “retaining documented information”. There’s also a change of terminologies used in ISO 9001:2015.

Knowing the differences between ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 9001:2015, the question now is, how can companies transition from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015? There are recommended steps to follow in complying with ISO 9001:2015. Assuming a company is already ISO 9001 certified; first, the organization needs to perform baseline measurement; make a complete overview of the quality management status. Secondly, draw up a plan based on the baseline measurement. Then implement changes in accordance with the plan of approach. Fourth step will be the auditing and process analysis. It is to measure whether the changes have had the desired effect. Then have your organization certified according to ISO 9001:2015. Lastly, communicate with interested parties; show your certificate and results with pride. Let them see how well your company or organization manages its processes and continuously improves them.

ISO 9001 is the world’s most popular and most commonly used standard for quality management system. To keep it current and relevant for the marketplace, its revision was published late last year – ISO 9001:2015. All ISO standards are reviewed every five years to establish if a revision is required to keep it up-to-date and on trend. Thus, the revised version is designed to respond to the latest trends and be compatible with other management systems.

The ISO 9001:2015 revision had undergone different stages before it was officially published last year. It was proposed on May and June 2012 then had its preparation from June to October of the same year. It was forwarded to the committee stage and the process started from June to October of 2013. On the year 2014, it was processed in the enquiry stage from May to October. Then it was approved on July 2015 and finally published on September 2015.

This new version of ISO 9001 follows a higher level structure to make it easier to use in conjunction with other management system standards, with increase importance given to risk. It is less prescriptive than its predecessor, focusing instead on performance. This was achieved by combining the process approach with risk-based thinking, and employing the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle at all levels in the organization.

Before releasing the new edition of ISO 9001, it underwent through many processes because the organization wanted to publish more concrete and polished version of ISO 9001; conforming to the latest trends and modern needs. The ISO 9001:2015 replaces previous editions and certification bodies and organizations are granted a three-year transition period to migrate their certificates to the new version.

Occupational Safety and Health Network (OSHNet) – 10, Inc. has recently conducted training for nurses, safety officers and construction personnel. The training was a learning session on “First Aid in the workplace”; it was held on February 3, 2016 at Polymedic Medical Plaza.

Homechoice Planners and Construction Corporation took part in the said training by sending their company nurse and safety officers to attend in the activity. Topics such as Roles and Responsibilities of the First Aid Provider, Medical Emergencies, Injury Emergencies, Head, Neck and Spine Injury, Burns and Electrical Injuries were discussed. The attendees were also taught different first aid treatments for stroke and abovementioned injuries. Skills such as proper removal of contaminated gloves were taught as well. Thanks to the speaker – Mr. Jarolito I. Ruiz, Assistant Director of Nursing – Training and Development of Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, USA; for imparting his knowledge and skills.

The attendees actively participated in the three hour training; all were willing to learn and know the different first aid treatments, skills and procedures. There were segments prepared for the different first aid procedures where the participants are free to perform a return demonstration of the procedures learned. Thanks to the staff nurses of Polymedic Medical Plaza for patiently demonstrating the first aid procedures.

This training is a vital learning to all the participants; their knowledge and skills will not only be limited to their workplace but also can be used in their households or in any place. Such any accidents will occur, immediate first aid treatment can intervene further cause of the problem or even death.

Looking forward for more meaningful trainings and seminars of OSHNET-10! Cheers to the successful activity!

As part of HPCC’s continual improvement, internal audits are held every trimester to check the process of the company. Internal Auditors roam around per department, assessing and inspecting the procedure of each department. The auditors see to it that each department has followed every process in their procedure manuals; checking if there any improvements and non-conformances.

Last April, the company had held its very first internal audit and management review after being ISO certified. At that time, there were a lot of things that needs improvement and non-conformances were found. This time around, internal audit for second trimester was done last August 6 and 7. The second management review was then followed at Seda Hotel last August 8; wherein the audit results and progress report of each department was presented. The results for the second internal audit were gradually improving compared to the first internal audit; showing that each department continually improves their abidance to the standard procedures. Though there are still non-conformances, rewards and incentives were still given to all workers and staff for the improved results.

Internal auditing and management review reporting are all part of HPCC’s growth and continuous improvement. These things are vital tools in the company’s competence with its quality management system. And with this, HPCC continues to pave its way towards excellence following its vision, mission and quality policy. Cheers to the continuous success of HPCC!

Learning never stops. And it is interesting especially when we work as a team as you get to see how other people think. HPCC believes that learning is best when you get to interact with other people. And by interacting means conducting seminars that would benefit the company’s continual improvement.

Last July 11 an ISO 9001:2008 Awareness Seminar was conducted by HPCC to its staffs and chosen construction leaders. Its objectives were to understand the quality management system and eight management principles; understand the ISO 9001:2008 series of standards and interrelationship among ISO 9001, ISO 9004 and ISO 19011; and also learn the interpretation of ISO 9001:2008. This seminar was a re-echo of what the company’s Internal Auditors has learned from the ISO Audit Training that they have attended last June 22-24 at Davao City. It serves as a refresher to the staffs and leaders; for them to further understand the ISO system. This kind of awareness seminar is a contributory factor to the growth and improvement of the staffs and leaders by constant exposure and learning of the ISO system.

At the end of the discussion, the participants were given an exam for their learning evaluation. The results were good indicating that the participants have indeed learned from the seminar. After the seminar, certificates of attendance were also given to the participants; acknowledging their active participation and interaction during the seminar. Congratulations!

Surely this kind of awareness seminar will not be the last but the first of the many seminars that will come. Cheers for HPCC’s continual improvement!

Last February 14, the City Planning Development Office in collaboration with the Subdivision and Housing Development Association or SHDA, Inc. conducted a whole day seminar at Deluxe Hotel. The seminar was refresher training on Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) devolved functions in the processing and approval of subdivision application. The said meeting was attended by different property developers and contractors of Cagayan de Oro City. People in the real estate business and representatives of different organizations were present also.

Different offices and organizations of the government joined in the seminar. Each of the government offices and organizations had its own representative. To name a few, Architect Erlinda Nuval of the Office of the Building Official and Mr. Apolinar Banaag of the Department of Agrarian Reform were representatives from their respective offices. Various topics has been discussed in the event such as titling of the subdivision lots and processing period, conversion requirements and processing period, subdivision guidelines and a lot more interesting topics.

During the seminar, we were graced by the presence of our City Honorable Mayor Oscar Moreno and Vice Mayor Ian Acenas. It is said that for the first time, both the mayor and vice mayor were together in an event. It is such a privilege for us to have been able to see them together in one place. The mayor and vice mayor had the opportunity also to express their plans and desires for the city’s prosperity.

It was a great pleasure for us to have been able to attend the seminar. Questions have been answered during the open forum and clarifications have been made also. We, the attendees have learned a lot from the refresher training. Cheers to the organizers of the event. Looking forward for more seminars like this.

Volume Three of John Maxwell’s Leadership notebook has come to its conclusion. The renowned train the trainers’ seminar has concluded its last notebook last August 1 and 2. The volume three training module of John Maxwell’s leadership lessons are composed of six notebooks. In each notebook, specific topics about leadership are discussed in there.

For the first time, the said Leadership Training was held at CDO First Assembly of God Church. The venue was filled with delegates that came from different cities of Visayas and Mindanao. And once again, the HPCC staff and RPM Realty agents had the opportunity to participate in the said leadership seminar. Like all the attendees, the HPCC staff and RPM Realty agents were equipped again with lessons that would grow and mould them as future leaders.

In the seminar, we were graced again with the presence of Mr. Steve Miller and a new speaker namely Dr. Rob McCleland. Each lesson in the notebook was discussed well by the aforementioned speakers. The speakers were great motivators as they are great leaders in their own business and country. One law of leadership that has struck to us was the Law of Legacy. It taught us that legacy is created only when a leader positions his organization to do great things without the leader himself. The law of legacy is the leader’s lasting value measured by succession. Other laws has also left a great impact on all of us; for one is the law of timing wherein it taught us that when to lead is as important as what to do and where to go.

The one and a half day seminar was a great one indeed. We got to learn a lot of things from it; lessons that would definitely be useful in training future leaders. This seminar might be the end of Volume 3 but we’ll surely wait for EQUIP to conduct another training for the next volume. And we just can’t wait for the next million leaders mandate training. Until then!