Province Invests in Service Improvements

Environment and Labour is introducing new roles and procedures at its environment offices that will improve the quality and delivery of services to the department's clients. The move is in response to recommendations made following a review of the western region office in Kentville in 2002.

The most significant improvement will be the hiring of four compliance inspection co-ordinators -- one for each regional office -- by this fall. The new positions will help staff assess and improve the efficiency of internal procedures, and will provide staff with training, file management expertise, and law enforcement advice.

"We're always interested in improving service for our customers, and this review has helped us to identify and fix gaps in our system," said Environment and Labour Minister Ron Russell. "Evaluating our work, sharing those results, and implementing improvements are just good government."

Inspection officers at the Department of Environment and Labour process 6,700 approvals each year and conduct 18,500 inspections.

The new positions are part of a comprehensive action plan that was identified following an operational review of the western region office last fall. The review examined the current delivery of environment programs and recommended areas for improvement. Other improvements include providing staff with client service training, establishing regular meetings for the department's engineers, and completing changes to the on-site sewage disposal systems regulations.

The review was conducted last summer and cost the department about $16,000.

The report and the department's implementation plan are available on the department's Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/enla/whatsnew.htm.