The CO cannot maintain high standards of quality
THE QA LINK TO MAINTENANCE
workmanship by merely creating a QA organization
within a maintenance organization. The organization
The Navy has a long-standing requirement that
must have the full support of everyone within it. It is
maintenance work must meet technical specifications.
not the inspection instruments and instructions that
The person performing the maintenance is ultimately
bring high standards of quality; it is the attitudes of
responsible for ensuring that this requirement is met.
those who do the work.
Therefore, any worker who is expected to do the job
properly must be properly trained, provided with correct
tools and parts, familiar with the technical manuals and
The Quality Assurance Officer
plans, and adequately supervised.
The QAO is responsible to the CO for the
These elements continue to be the primary means of
organization, administration, and execution of the ship's
assuring that maintenance is performed correctly.
QA program according to the QA manual. On most
surface ships other than IMAs, the QAO is the chief
Once there is a decision to proceed with
engineer with a senior chief petty officer assigned as
maintenance, you must apply QA requirements at the
the QA coordinator. The QAO is responsible for the
same time you plan the maintenance and supervise its
following:
completion. Technical specifications will come from a
variety of sources. The determination of which sources
-- Coordinating the QA training program as an
are applicable to the particular job will be the most
integral part of the ship's/IMA's overall training
difficult part of your planning effort. Once you decide,
program
the maintenance objective becomes two-fold: (1) ensure
-- Maintaining the ship's/IMAs QA records and
the maintenance work meets all specifications, and (2)
ensure the documentation is complete and accurate and
test and inspection reports
can be audited.
-- Maintaining departure-from-specifications re-
THE QA ORGANIZATION
cords that can be audited
-- Reviewing procedures and controlled work
The Navy's QA program organization begins with
the fleet CINCs, who provide the basic QA program
packages prepared by the ship/IMA
organization responsibilities and guidelines. The
TYCOMs provide instruction, policy, and overall
-- Conducting QA audits as required and
direction to implement and operate the force QA
following up on corrective action to ensure
program. Each TYCOM has a force QA officer
compliance with the QA program
assigned to administer the force QA program.
-- Preparing QA/QC reports as required by higher
Commanding officers are responsible to the TYCOM,
via the chain of command, for QA of their organization.
authority
The CO is responsible for organizing and implementing
a QA program within the organization to carry out the
-- Qualifying key personnel in the QA program.
provisions of the TYCOM's QA manual, and assigns
key QA personnel for that purpose. In most cases, it is
The Division Officer
a collateral duty assignment for these key personnel on
ships and a primary duty for key personnel at IMAs.
The DOs ensure that all division personnel receive
The following paragraphs will give you a brief
the necessary QA training and qualifications for their
description of the responsibilities of each of these
positions and that they carry out their QA
positions followed by a discussion of their training and
responsibilities.
qualifications.
The Quality Assurance Coordinator
The Commanding Officer
The quality assurance coordinators (QACs) are
The CO is responsible for the quality of material
senior petty officers assigned to this duty. Personnel
within a command, and he/she depends on the full
assigned to this duty train other QA personnel, conduct
cooperation of all hands to help meet this responsibility.
2-10