The Hong Kong Council for Testing
and Certification (HKCTC), Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) and ICAC co-organized
a seminar entitled “Integrity and Professional Development in Testing and
Certification Industry” held on 10th July 2017. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) was one
of supporting organizations. Professionalism
and integrity are foundation of good business and also form part of the core
value of Hong Kong’s testing and certification (T&C) industry. This is the fifth HKCTC seminar on integrity
and professional development. Previous
seminar information could be found in the reference.
Before the seminar, all guest speakers took a group photo for memory.
The first speaker was Ms. Anna
Lam (Deputy Executive Director of Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Centre,
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)) and her topic entitled “Professional
Integrity and Corruption Prevention”. Her
speech included “Importance of Professional Integrity”, “Common Corruption
Risks in T&C Industry” and “Three Tests of Professional Integrity”, as well
as, “Corruption Prevention Services of ICAC”.
Then she shared three real cases
of corruption in T&C industry included “Forging Certificates”, “Forging
test reports”, “Inspectors accepting bribes”.
There were some Points-to-note including:
-
Undermine the testing and inspection system
-
Breach of trust of the public and employer
-
Affect interests of stakeholders (company, clients colleagues, other
suppliers, customers)
-
Public safety
Ms. Anna Lam said that compliance
of law was minimum requirement, we encouraged to achieve professional integrity
as highest requirement as code of conduct.
Ms. Lam also mentioned the common
integrity risks included “Fake test reports/results”, “Tamper with test samples”,
“Lax inspection / audit”, “expedite testing/inspection/certification processes”,
“Handle confidential information”, “Entertainment” and “Conflict of interest”. After
that Ms. Anna Lam introduced three tests of professional integrity that was
Legal Test, Compliance Test and Sunshine Test.
1)
Legal Control over Corruption
-
Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201)
-
Section 9: Corrupt transactions in private sector (4A – Agent,
Advantage, Act and Approval)
-
Section 11 and 19: No defence to solicit / accept any advantage
-
Section 8: Offering advantage to public servants during official
dealings
-
Section 9(3): Use of False documents
The advantages included several items
showed in the following diagram.
2)
Compliance – Administrative Control over Malpractices
-
HKAS Accreditation Criteria
-
International Standards such as ISO 17025 / 17020 / 17021
-
Professional Code of Ethics (e.g. HKTIC, HKICA, HKIE)
-
Company Code of Conduct
3)
Sunshine Test – Disclose decisions openly without misgivings
The second speaker was Mr. Howie
Ng (Technical Director, Hong Kong Veritas Limited & Member, ISO/TC 309
(Governance of Organizations)) and his topic named “ISO 37001 Anti-bribery
Management Systems: an Introduction”. Firstly
he identified the different between corruption and bribery as below.
Corruption:
illegal, bad, or dishonest behavior, especially by people in positions of power
(Cambridge dictionary)
Bribery:
offering, promising, giving, accepting or soliciting of an undue advantage (ISO
37001)
Then he said the ISO/PC 278 was
one-off Project Committee to develop this standard. The purpose is to achieve the consistency in
anti-bribery performance. 
Then Mr. Howie Ng briefed the
benefits such as anti-bribery control and risks reduction, etc. Showing due
diligence is also important.
The standard followed the ISO HL
structure from clause 1 “Scope” to clause 10 “Improvement”. He explained using PDCA cycle that “Planning”
aimed to ensure top management leadership and commitment. The different from ISO 9001 was “Assess
anti-bribery risks” and “Define roles and responsibilities – Anti-bribery
compliance function”.
In “Control”, it mainly performed
in employment process, due diligence on risk assessment, financial /
non-financial controls, etc. Reasonable and proportionate were the key
judgement standards.
In “Checking and Improvement”,
Monitoring and internal audit were basic processes. Moreover, it should be
reviewed by Anti-bribery function, top management and governing body.
At the end, Mr. Howie Ng told us
that ISO/TC 309 Governance of organizations was established by the ISO/TMB in
September 2016 (TMB – Technical Management Board). ISO/TC 309 covered Anti-bribery management
system so that ISO/PC 279 to be disbanded.
After tea break, Ms. Fung Ka Wing
(Senior Manager, Qualifications Framework Secretariat) and Ms. Fanny Tang
(Assessment Manager, Assessment Agency of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
in TIC Industry & Senior Lecturer, Testing and Certification, School of
Science & Technology, OUHK) and their topic entitled “Qualification
Framework and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Assessment. Firstly, Ms. Fung Ka Wing briefed the
background of HKQF which officially launched in May 2008 (CAP 592) that aimed
to support lifelong learning and to enhance the quality and competitiveness of
the workforce.
The framework of governance
included Education Bureau (EDB), Qualification Framework Secretariat (QFS) and
Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications
(HKCAAVQ).
The HKQF hierarchy form level 1
to level 7 were mentioned and discussed.
All qualified courses could match different QF level through HKCAAVQ evaluation. For each level, generic level descriptors
(GLD) describes learning outcomes in four domains and they were “Knowledge and
Intellectual Skills”, “Processes”, “Application, Autonomy and Accountability”
and “Communication, IT and Numeracy”.
Finally, she mentioned 1QF credit
was equal to 10 notional learning hours.
All qualifications or learning programmes recognized under QF had to be
quality-assured and uploaded onto the Qualifications Register (QR). HKCAAVQ was QA bodies and location
universities were self-accrediting institutions.
Before explanation of RPL, she
stated how to develop the Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) which was
collaborated with industry through formation of Industry Training Advisory
Committee (ITAC).
Ms. Fanny Tang then explained how
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) made pathways to professional development. RPL was enable employees of various
backgrounds to received formal recognition of the knowledge, skills and
experience that were already acquired.
The Unit of Competency (UoC) from
SCS was the basic unit for RPL assessment.
Then Ms. Fanny Tang briefed the assessment methods included Written
Test, Interview, Written Test + Interview, Practical Assessment, Practical
Assessment + Written Test, and Practical Assessment + Interview.
The relevant working experience
requirement for different QF levels were demonstrated. Finally, Ms. Tang mentioned that was Win-Win
situation for both employees and employers as follows:
Employees:
-
Gain recognition for qualification
-
Professional development and profile
-
Save money compared with other training program
-
Quicker qualification
Employers:
-
Fast tracking staff through the skills recognition
-
Reduction in costs of training
-
Efficient in identification of skills gaps allowing for more focused
training
Then Dr. Lo briefed the
competence requirement for auditing based on ISO 17021:2015. He also referred to ISO 9001:2015 and found
that both standards’ auditor requirement was referred to ISO 19011 for guidance
in the note statement. ISO 19011:2011 –
Guidelines for auditing management systems is applicable to all organizations
that need to conduct internal or external audits of management systems or
manage an audit programme.
Dr. Lo used safety accident as an
example to point out the safety management composed of three stages:
Technology, System and Culture. So he
said the element of success for quality apart from technology and system was
People. He proposed four incentives of
T&C Personnel were Full Time, Professionalism, Role & responsibility
and Culture.
He also studied the development
system of ISO 9001 and Industry accident ratio and found that up-climbing
safety culture and down-grading quality commitment.
Then Dr. Lo showed the competence
requirement for auditing and HKICA got ISO 17024 accreditation by CNAS in the
right path for personal certification.
Finally, he concluded that a healthy ad reliable management system shall
have full time professional staffs in place; 1st part frontline
trained staff to implement daily operation and checking; 2nd party
internal audit staff to safeguard effectiveness and project/materials/data
control; and 3rd party certification audit to oversee the compliance
and effectiveness of system.
The last speaker was Mr. Harry
Yeung (Chairman, HKTIC) and his presentation title was “How Personnel
Certification can Help to Development Professionalism in the Testing and Certification
Industry”. Firstly, Mr. Yeung briefed
the role of TIC industry such as supporting the manufactures, exporters &
other service industries; integral part of the supply chain and protects daily
life, etc.
.
Then Mr. Harry Yeung introduced
The Hong Kong Association for Testing, Inspection and Certification (HKTIC) which
has founded since 1981 (formerly named Hong Kong Association of Certification Laboratories
(HKACL)). Then he discussed challenges
of TIC industry such as limited supply of young professionals and difficulties
to retain them because of lack of visible recognition of professional
status. Therefore, HKTIC developed the
Professional Certification Scheme for Testing Personnel (PCSTP) and got the SME
development fund in Oct 2010. Then the
scheme launched on 28 Sep 2011. There
are two categories: Certified Testing Professional (CTP) and Certified Testing
Technician (CTT). The following diagram
showed the scope of certification.
Finally, Mr. Harry Yeung told us
that CTP had 246 and CTT had 117. One of
incentives for this certification was employers support that the recruitment
included CTP and CTT requirement.
Lastly, Mr. Harry Yeung believed
the scheme development different benefits among Clients/public, Employees and
Employers in TIC Industry in Hong Kong.
In the second part Q&A, many
people asked question about HKQF and RPL as well as if any integrity UoC for
auditor training use. For HKQF,
different industries had their own code of conduct training module and it would
be discussed in ITAC-TIC later. Dr. Lo
said most auditor training would cover code of conduct.
Reference:
HKTIC - http://www.hktic.org/
Previous ICAC involved T&C Seminars:
20101025: Seminar on Support to
Testing and Certification Industry - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2010/10/seminar-on-support-to-testing-and.html
20110916: Seminar on Supports to
Testing and Certification Industry - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2011/09/seminar-on-supports-to-testing-and.html
20111103: Ethical Management
Seminar for Testing and Certification Industry - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2011/11/ethical-management-seminar-for-testing.html
20131008: HKCTC Seminar on
Integrity and Professional Development in Testing & Certification Industry
- http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2013/10/hkctc-seminar-on-integrity-and.html
20140114: ICAC Training Workshop
for HKAS Accredited Organizations - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2014/01/icac-training-workshop-for-hkas.html
20150713: HKCTC Seminar on
Professional Integrity in Testing and Certification - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2015/07/hkctc-seminar-on-professional-integrity.html
20160627: HKCTC Seminar on
Professional Integrity in Testing and Certification - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2016/06/hkctc-seminar-on-professional-integrity.html
I really liked your Information. Keep up the good work. Emotion Code
回覆刪除