Mr.Roger Lai, Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services

The New Year ushered in a major change to EMSD's management with the retirement of Mr. Leung Cham-tim as Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services. He retired at the end of January after more than 32 years with EMSD. Taking his place is Mr. Roger Lai Sze-hoi, whose previous role as Deputy Director/ Regulatory Services has been filled by Mr. K. W. Ho. In turn Mr. John Chan becomes Acting Deputy Director/Trading Services.

At a recent interview, Mr. Lai talked about EMSD's future direction and how it will benefit customers.

Voicelink: Mr Lai, congratulations on your recent appointment as Director of EMSD. In your new role can you please discuss your vision for the Department's future?

DEMS: Thank you. Before we talk about the future let me go back to the past. We have come a long way from our establishment more than 50 years ago. During this period of time, the scale and scope of our activities have evolved and expanded but I believe that our goals fundamentally remain the same. We are committed to keeping up with the latest developments, trends and technology to ensure Hong Kong's safety in the areas of electrical, mechanical and gas engineering while also contributing to Hong Kong's well-being as a world class city with world class engineering services.

Voicelink: That sounds very ambitious, can you explain how you propose to implement these "world class" services and how you will translate this philosophy into action?

DEMS: It may sound ambitious but as with any quality conscious and customer-oriented organisations, we are constantly working to see how we can add value to our services. Society is changing and unless we keep up, we will fall behind. We need to be aware of new trends and developments, to ensure that we can use the latest technology and processes and to translate them into innovative and relevant services that will serve the best interests of both our customers and the public.

Voicelink: EMSD has achieved a number of successes in recent years — you have successfully made the transition to a Trading Fund, increased productivity, received both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 corporate certification, what more can you do?

DEMS: Quite simply the process never stops. Each success is a stepping-stone, propelling us on to our next achievement. Our drive for quality is a perfect example. When the Trading Fund was established in 1996, one of our goals was to obtain ISO 9001 certification as external recognition of our quality processes.

In the course of the exercise, we discovered a number of benefits. Firstly, we found that this common goal was a strong motivating factor. System implementation also tied up many loose ends in our processes and introduced better work practices. Finally gaining certification marked a major milestone and provided the momentum for our next move, the obtaining of ISO 14001 certification. That was achieved last year, and we are now working towards OHSAS 18001 certification which recognises occupational health and safety practices. When that has been accomplished, we will be looking to integrate the three separate systems into a single and cohesive streamlined programme.

Another example of the need to move forward is the recent introduction of our new EMSTF Vision, Mission and Values. Building on our previous mission for quality and reliability, our new philosophy takes us further forward in our transition to a customer-focused and service driven organisation. In addition to providing the excellent services called for in the past, we now seek to create added value, providing a better quality of life for our customers and the community through our total engineering solutions.

Voicelink: You talk about a better "Quality of Life" for the community — how will EMSD provide that?

DEMS: Our services have always contributed to Hong Kong's well-being in one form or another. This is visible in our regulatory work particularly in the areas of gas, electrical and mechanical safety. For the EMSTF, the great majority of our customers also serve the public. It is our aim to ensure that the excellence of our services and the creativity of our solutions will enable them to better serve the community.

An example of where we can help customers is our knowledge of and commitment to keep up with the latest technologies. This has enabled us to implement some of the most up-to-date systems and sophisticated equipment available in the world. In the future, we are working towards taking an even broader perspective in our services and solutions. Our aim is to think about every aspect of what we do — their effect on our customers, benefits for the community and impact on the environment. In doing so, our services will better reflect the needs of our customers and the community.

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