Staff unit “Quality Management and Documentation”
The decommissioning of the Asse mine has to be approved by the relevant authority Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie (LBEG) in Clausthal-Zellerfeld based on an application for decommissioning elabourated by the former GSF (now Helmholtz Zentrum München). Within the framework of the auxiliary conditions of this procedure, a general concept for quality assurance has to be submitted . In May 2005, the Head of the Asse mine put the staff unit “Quality Management and Documentation” in charge of all tasks within the framework of the quality management system.
The quality management system (QMS) is based on the quality management plan approved by the Board of Directors and the Head of the Asse mine and structured in compliance with the requirements of DIN EN ISO 9001:2000. It describes principles, internal processes and procedures that are necessary to fulfil the requirements on closure of the Asse mine stipulated in contracts or licences.
The essential objective for the staff of the Asse mine is defined as follows:
Performance of the decommissioning for ensuring long-term safety on schedule and according to quality standards
All efforts during the decommissioning of the mine have to be oriented towards the continuous and consistent application of the methods of the quality management system. Accordingly, each organisation unit has responsibility for quality management and quality assurance according to their share in decommissioning the Asse mine.
The staff unit “Quality Management and Documentation” performs the following tasks:
- Drafting and further development of modern quality standards and methods
- Development and maintenance of the QMS manual and the associated instructions
- Regular monitoring of the QMS regarding its application and effectiveness to ensure that defined quality requirements and objectives are achieved
- Further development and improvement of the QMS
Documentation and archiving
According to the QMS requirements, all work at the Asse mine has to be documented for preservation of supporting documents and demonstration of long-term safety. All documents generated are systematically filed, classified in accordance with a documentation manual, archived for easy access at any time and kept ready in a copyable form for further editing.
Quality assurance laboratory
Within the framework of QMS introduction, the laboratory available for geotechnical control of the backfill material was restructured and expanded. At the new QA laboratory, the accompanying quality-assuring inspections are performed both for solid and liquid backfill materials taking account of of the general requirements of DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and the respective technical DIN standards.