The Orange County Health Department Division of Environmental Health in Florida chartered a QI team to improve customer satisfaction with the speed and accuracy of Septic System Permitting. Measurement of operations indicated that the causes for delay in issuing permits were uninformed contractors, poor internal document flow, and lack of placement support for key office staff. With guidance from Grace Duffy, the QI team created an effective procedure for application requirements, provide training to building contractors on the requirements for a Septic System Permit, and instituted a tracking system to ensure that contractors have the data required to submit an application correctly. The team identified placement support for all staff positions so that the front desk was covered whenever contractors entered the office to fill out applications or request permit status. As a result of this
project, the backlog of permits significantly diminished, and satisfaction of building contractors with the division of Environmental Health improved.

 

Click here to view a Cause and Effect Diagram on the contributing causes to meeting document standards.