CMQ-OE pdf - Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Certification

Bert Markgraf is a freelance writer with a strong science and engineering background. He started writing technical papers while working as an engineer in the 1980s. More recently, after starting his own business in IT, he helped organize an online community for which he wrote and edited articles as managing editor, business and economics. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University.

Summary: Quality may be the essential ingredient that transforms today’s uncertainty into profitability. Entire industries are being disrupted. Rapid time to market is critical to competitiveness, and there is enormous pressure to design, build and ship products at blazing speeds. Thriving in this era of change requires infusing quality thinking into every process across every part of the enterprise. Organizations succeeding in their markets have learned to deliver world-class quality. They harness the enormous economic potential of quality management to attain leadership of their respective markets.

To illuminate the economic power of quality, Forbes Insights partnered with ASQ, a global community of quality professionals, to conduct a global survey of 1,869 senior executives and quality professionals in March 2017. In-depth interviews with top executives and thought leaders were also conducted to add context to the data.

To download a pdf of the study, please fill out the following information. If you experience any trouble, please send an email to: insights@forbes.com.

Notice: By supplying my contact information, I authorize Forbes Insights and the report sponsor to contact me about the sponsor’s products and services. Forbes Insights may use data I have provided in accordance with the Forbes online privacy policy.

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Carolyn Gray started writing in 2009. Her work history includes line and staff management in the Finance and Controller's Department of New York Telephone and NYNEX. Gray has a Bachelor of Arts in government from Clark University and a Master of Business Administration from New York University's Stern School of Business in Management and Organization Behavior.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and climate change are two defining challenges of the twenty-first century, as each poses a significant threat to health and sustainable development.¹ NCDs, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and mental and neurological disorders, are currently responsible for 68 per cent of global mortality,² while climate change is projected to cause several hundred thousand deaths annually by 2030.³ Risk factors for NCDs include exposure to air pollution and physical inactivity. Eighty-eight per cent of urban populations are exposed to levels of outdoor air pollution that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines,⁴ and 3.7 million deaths globally were attributable to ambient air pollution in 2012. Furthermore, urbanization leads to changes in occupation and ways of life associated with lower levels of physical activity and higher automobile use. WHO attributes 3.2 million deaths annually to physical inactivity and 1.3 million to road traffic injuries.⁵

These risk factors share some of the same origins and solutions as climate change, including in the energy and transportation sectors,⁶ and are especially relevant as urbanization increases. Rapid urbanization and population growth are major contributors to both NCDs and climate change. Urban areas facilitate activity across multiple sectors in which interventions can be made. Thus, in addition to posing formidable challenges, urban areas offer great opportunities for positive and sustainable change.

The world recently acknowledged the importance of these issues with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by which Governments committed to ensuring progress across 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. Achieving progress on the NCD and climate change targets will depend on progress in many other priority areas and vice versa. Moving forward, it will be critical to choose interventions that aim at many targets and goals simultaneously in order to maximize impacts.

The role of parks, green spaces and waterways as urban health solutions

Parks, green spaces and waterways are important public spaces in most cities. They offer solutions to the effects of rapid, unsustainable urbanization on health and well-being. The social and economic benefits of urban green spaces are equally important, and should be viewed in the context of global issues such as climate change, as well as other priorities set out in the SDGs, including sustainable cities, public health and nature conservation.

Scientific literature describes various ways in which the natural environment can positively affect human health and well-being, as natural areas offer opportunities for physical activity, social contacts and stress reduction.⁷ An increasing number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated various positive health effects of maintaining urban green spaces, including improved mental health and reduced depression; improved pregnancy outcomes; and lower rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, obesity and diabetes.⁸

Disadvantaged groups tend to live in neighbourhoods with little available green space, while studies show that socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals tend to benefit most from improved access to urban greenery. Thus, reducing socioeconomic disparities in the availability of urban green spaces can help to reduce inequalities in health related to income, minority status, disability and other socioeconomic and demographic factors.⁹

Increasing the number and quality of green spaces has the potential to mitigate short-lived climate pollutants that produce a strong global warming effect and contribute significantly to more than 7 million premature air-pollution related deaths annually.¹⁰ Urban fountains, ponds, lakes and roof gardens also moderate temperature extremes and reduce the Urban Heat Island effect, resulting in energy savings and improved climate quality in cities. Air pollution contributes to rising temperatures and heat wave episodes, leading to increased rates of mortality from heart attacks or stroke as a result of heat stress, particularly in people with pre-existing NCDs.¹¹ For every tree strategically planted to provide shade, there could be a direct reduction of approximately 10 kg in carbon emissions from power plants through reduced demand for air conditioning.¹² In Europe alone, 400,000 premature deaths per year occur as a result of air pollution, at a cost of €330 billion to €940 billion.¹³

In addition to the clear benefits of climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction, parks, green spaces and waterways help reduce exposure to a major risk factor for NCDs—physical inactivity—which causes 3.2 million deaths annually.¹⁴ Parks and green spaces provide people with the opportunity to walk and cycle more often and engage in leisure-time physical activity. Therefore, investments in city parks, green spaces, and waterways are an effective and economical way to both promote health and mitigate climate change.

Discussion

Intervention studies can help document the concrete gains in public health resulting from climate change mitigation. Cities should use this information to make decisions that will promote health, mitigate climate change and enhance the quality of life for residents. Key opportunities for health should be addressed in urban planning.

In addition, it is important to match evidence and data across sectors and promote integration of different evidence and indicators, using a Health in All Policies approach. The development and use of linked health and urban planning indicators for public spaces, transport and energy can support the adoption of key policies, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of urban interventions.

Integrating health perspectives into the many factors, disciplines and influences that shape city policies can drive cost-effective urban planning and related transport mitigation strategies. Urban and transport planning would benefit from the use of health and health-risk data for informed decision-making and priority-setting. Establishing processes through which policymakers can objectively evaluate the potential health-related impacts of an intervention before it is implemented will help ensure that solutions that advance health and climate change mitigation are found.

The health sector has a key role to play in guiding and supporting policies to protect the climate, and in promoting less polluted, healthy cities and green spaces. In addition to providing health-based guidance for air and water quality, as well as for transport and housing design, the health sector can also offer tools to support other areas, as well-tested instruments exist for assessing health impacts in transport and land-use policies. A critical element for shaping policy to promote urban health is the participation and empowerment of communities. It is important to integrate participatory processes in policymaking and implementation at both the national and local levels for effective governance to act on the social determinants of health.

Conclusion

Urban green areas offer great opportunities for positive change and the sustainable development of our cities. Public green spaces that are accessible for walking, cycling, playing and other outdoor activities can Strengthen safe mobility and access to basic services for women, older adults and children, as well as low-income population groups, thus improving health equity. Incorporating public health priorities into public-space development provides such a co-benefit approach for urban areas. Taking a health-sensitive approach to green public-space planning offers the potential to achieve the greatest number of co-benefits.

The upcoming United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), to be held in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 to 20 October 2016, aims to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization through the adoption of a New Urban Agenda. Urban leaders can benefit from the support, credibility and local knowledge that health systems and actors can bring when recommending sustainable local policies as a measure for disease prevention and health promotion, as well as using health indicators to track progress.

Multisectoral collaboration among decision-making entities and the public will be critical, as no single ministry or Government can achieve climate goals alone. It is also important to integrate participatory processes in policymaking and implementation at both the national and local levels for effective governance to act on social determinants of health. Health perspectives can help shape city policies that drive cost-effective urban planning and related transport mitigation strategies.

This article builds on the results and reporting document for the Side Event “Public Space: An Invaluable Resource to Deliver Sustainable Urban Health”, held during Thematic Meeting on Public Spaces in April 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, in preparation for Habitat III. The following authors contributed to the above-mentioned report: Jessica Beagley of the NCD Alliance; Kristie Daniel of the HealthBridge Foundation of Canada; Nathalie Röbbel; and Florian Lorenz of Smarter Than Car. The article also acknowledges research on green spaces and health conducted at the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health.¹⁵

1 NCD Alliance and Global Climate and Heath Alliance, NCDs and Climate Change: Shared Opportunities for Action (2016).  Available from

https://ncdalliance.org/sites/default/files/resource_files/NCDs_%26_ClimateChange_EN.pdf.

2 World Health Organization, “Global Health Estimates 2014 Summary Tables: DALY by Cause, Age and Sex 2000-2012”, Workbook (Geneva, 2014). Available from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GHE_DALY_Global_2000_2012.xls.

3 World Health Organization, “Climate change and health”, Fact Sheet, No. 266, Reviewed June 2016. Available from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/.

4 World Health Organization, Air Quality Guidelines: Global update 2005. Particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide (Copenhagen, 2006). Available from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/78638/E90038.pdf?ua=1.

5 World Health Organization, “Road traffic injuries”, Fact Sheet, No. 358, Reviewed September 2016. Available from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs358/en/.

6 NCD Alliance and Global Climate and Heath Alliance, NCDs and Climate Change, p. 4.

7 Terry Hartig and others, “Nature and health”, Annual Review of Public Health,

vol. 35, (March 2014), pp. 207-228.

8 Sjerp de Vries, “Nearby nature and human health: looking at mechanisms and their implications”, in Innovative Approaches to Researching Landscape and Health: Open Space: People Space 2, Catharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall and Simon Bell, eds. (Abingdon, New York, Routledge, 2010), pp. 77-96; Mireia Gascon and others, “Residential green spaces and mortality: a systematic review”, Environment International, vol. 86 (January 2016), pp. 60-67; Takemi Sugiyama and others, “Associations of neighbourhood greenness with physical and mental health: do walking, social coherence and local social interaction explain the relationships?”, Research report,  Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 62, No. 5 (2008), pp. e 9; Mathew White and others, “Would you be happier living in a greener urban area? A fixed-effects analysis of panel data” Psychological Science, vol. 24, No. 6 (June 2013), pp. 920-928; Kate Lachowycz and Andy Peter Jones, “Greenspace and obesity: a systematic review of the evidence”, Obesity Reviews, vol. 12 (February 2011), pp. e183-e189; Paul J. Villeneuve and others, “A cohort study relating urban green space with mortality in Ontario, Canada”, Environmental Research, vol. 115 (May 2012), pp. 51-58.

9 Jessica Allen and Reuben Balfour, “Natural solutions for tackling health inequalities”, Report (London, UCL Institute of Health Equity, 2014). Available from http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/natural-solutions-to-tackling-health-inequalities.

10 World Health Organization, Reducing global health risks through mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants, Scoping report for policymakers (Geneva, 2015). Available from http://www.who.int/phe/publications/climate-reducing-health-risks/en/.

11 Glen P. Kenny and others, “Heat stress in older individuals and patients with common chronic diseases”, Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 182, No.10 (July 2010), pp. 1053-1060.

12 Hashem Akbari, “Shade trees reduce building energy use and CO₂ emissions from power plants”, Environmental Pollution, vol. 116 (2002), Supplement 1, pp. S119-126. Available from http://webmail.seedengr.com/documents/Shade%20trees%20reduce%20building%20energy%20use%20and%20CO2%20emissions%20from%20power%20plants.pdf.

13 Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Environment, “If you think the economy is more important than the environment, try holding your breath while counting your money”, Speech, Launch of the European Economic Area (EEA) Report on Air Quality 2013, Brussels, 15 October 2013. Available from http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-13-822_en.htm.

14 World Health Organization, Global Health Risks: Mortality and Burden of Disease Attributable to Selected Major Risks (Geneva, 2009). Available from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GlobalHealthRisks_report_full.pdf.    

15 World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Urban Green Spaces and Health (Copenhagen, (forthcoming)). 

The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

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CNN  — 

A monthslong investigation into a series of Navy suicides last year found the service failed to provide a basic quality of life for sailors, housing them in unacceptable living conditions and failing to provide adequate mental health resources.

The investigation concluded that the issues were compounded on the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier going through overhaul in the Newport News shipyard in Virginia, because of the lengthy refit process, which was delayed as the Navy shifted its priorities to other ships.

Ultimately, sailors from the ship told CNN they were forced to move on board the ship before it was ready, leaving the crew facing power outages, a lack of hot water, and unbearable temperatures.

“It was pointedly obvious that the Navy had failed the George Washington through a host of things that we put that ship into,” said Navy Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle in a briefing to reporters Thursday.

The Navy’s top leaders said the blame for the suicides on board the carrier and at a separate facility in Norfolk late-last year did not fall on any single commander or leader.

“Collectively, Navy senior leadership, officer and civilian, let our standards slip – and in doing so we let our people down,” wrote Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Navy Chief Adm. Michael Gilday in a memo following the conclusion of the investigation.

In response, the Navy’s top leaders committed to addressing quality of life issues for sailors – first at shipyards, then across the service.

In April of last year, three sailors from the USS George Washington crew died by suicide within one week. A Navy investigation found that the deaths were “not related or connected,” but were the result of “unique and individualized” challenged facing each individual sailor, coupled with a “readily available” means to die by suicide and an “impaired mental state.”

Then in December, four sailors at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARCMC) died by suicide within a month. A Navy investigation found there was no “direct correlation or connection” between the deaths, nor was there a toxic climate within the command. The newly-released investigation, which is separate from the broader investigation into quality of life issues and more, did find there were missed opportunities for supervisors to intervene.

The suicides put additional pressure on the Pentagon to implement the Brandon Act, a law requiring the Defense Department to provide mental health resources. The law is named after Brandon Caserta, a 21-year-old sailor who took his life at Naval Air Station Norfolk in 2018. The implementation of the law, required as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, was delayed by more than a year until it was finally signed earlier this month.

Caudle made no excuses for the Navy’s failure to address quality of life issues before they contributed to a series of suicides.

“I am never going to try to provide you a reason why it takes a large mishap, incident, 9/11 event to make the Navy – my organization which I love – wake up and attack a problem that we should’ve seen coming,” said Caudle. “I’ll just tell you there is no excuse for that.”

As part of a series of 48 recommendations, Caudle said the Navy should define when a ship is habitable, provide adequate housing and facilities before sailors move aboard a ship, and have more mental health resources available for sailors.

For the first time, the Navy also wants to develop a standard for what it calls “quality of service,” the combination of quality of life and the work experience.

But there is no timeline yet for implementing the quality-of-life recommendations across the service, and the Navy acknowledged it will require additional resources to address the problem.

“Navy [Quality of Service] will not be corrected with the stroke of a pen,” Del Toro and Gilday said in their letter.

Editor’s Note: If you or a loved one have contemplated suicide, call The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to connect with a trained counselor.

Summary: Quality may be the essential ingredient that transforms today’s uncertainty into profitability. Entire industries are being disrupted. Rapid time to market is critical to competitiveness, and there is enormous pressure to design, build and ship products at blazing speeds. Thriving in this era of change requires infusing quality thinking into every process across every part of the enterprise. Organizations succeeding in their markets have learned to deliver world-class quality. They harness the enormous economic potential of quality management to attain leadership of their respective markets.

To illuminate the economic power of quality, Forbes Insights partnered with ASQ, a global community of quality professionals, to conduct a global survey of 1,869 senior executives and quality professionals in March 2017. In-depth interviews with top executives and thought leaders were also conducted to add context to the data.

To download a pdf of the study, please fill out the following information. If you experience any trouble, please send an email to: insights@forbes.com.

Notice: By supplying my contact information, I authorize Forbes Insights and the report sponsor to contact me about the sponsor’s products and services. Forbes Insights may use data I have provided in accordance with the Forbes online privacy policy.

Learn more >>

To unsubscribe to the newsletter click here.
To review our privacy policy click here.

CNN  — 

A monthslong investigation into a series of Navy suicides last year found the service failed to provide a basic quality of life for sailors, housing them in unacceptable living conditions and failing to provide adequate mental health resources.

The investigation concluded that the issues were compounded on the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier going through overhaul in the Newport News shipyard in Virginia, because of the lengthy refit process, which was delayed as the Navy shifted its priorities to other ships.

Ultimately, sailors from the ship told CNN they were forced to move on board the ship before it was ready, leaving the crew facing power outages, a lack of hot water, and unbearable temperatures.

“It was pointedly obvious that the Navy had failed the George Washington through a host of things that we put that ship into,” said Navy Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle in a briefing to reporters Thursday.

The Navy’s top leaders said the blame for the suicides on board the carrier and at a separate facility in Norfolk late-last year did not fall on any single commander or leader.

“Collectively, Navy senior leadership, officer and civilian, let our standards slip – and in doing so we let our people down,” wrote Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Navy Chief Adm. Michael Gilday in a memo following the conclusion of the investigation.

In response, the Navy’s top leaders committed to addressing quality of life issues for sailors – first at shipyards, then across the service.

In April of last year, three sailors from the USS George Washington crew died by suicide within one week. A Navy investigation found that the deaths were “not related or connected,” but were the result of “unique and individualized” challenged facing each individual sailor, coupled with a “readily available” means to die by suicide and an “impaired mental state.”

Then in December, four sailors at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARCMC) died by suicide within a month. A Navy investigation found there was no “direct correlation or connection” between the deaths, nor was there a toxic climate within the command. The newly-released investigation, which is separate from the broader investigation into quality of life issues and more, did find there were missed opportunities for supervisors to intervene.

The suicides put additional pressure on the Pentagon to implement the Brandon Act, a law requiring the Defense Department to provide mental health resources. The law is named after Brandon Caserta, a 21-year-old sailor who took his life at Naval Air Station Norfolk in 2018. The implementation of the law, required as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, was delayed by more than a year until it was finally signed earlier this month.

Caudle made no excuses for the Navy’s failure to address quality of life issues before they contributed to a series of suicides.

“I am never going to try to provide you a reason why it takes a large mishap, incident, 9/11 event to make the Navy – my organization which I love – wake up and attack a problem that we should’ve seen coming,” said Caudle. “I’ll just tell you there is no excuse for that.”

As part of a series of 48 recommendations, Caudle said the Navy should define when a ship is habitable, provide adequate housing and facilities before sailors move aboard a ship, and have more mental health resources available for sailors.

For the first time, the Navy also wants to develop a standard for what it calls “quality of service,” the combination of quality of life and the work experience.

But there is no timeline yet for implementing the quality-of-life recommendations across the service, and the Navy acknowledged it will require additional resources to address the problem.

“Navy [Quality of Service] will not be corrected with the stroke of a pen,” Del Toro and Gilday said in their letter.

Editor’s Note: If you or a loved one have contemplated suicide, call The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to connect with a trained counselor.