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Customer Complaints

Procedure _____________________________________

March 2015

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1. PURPOSE The purpose of this document is to provide guidance and outline the requirements to employees in handling customer complaints. 2. APPLICATION / SCOPE This procedure applies to customer complaints received from any person about the services, actions or decisions of the Public Safety Business Agency (PSBA), Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), or the Office of the Inspector-General, Emergency Management (IGEM) (the Agencies). It does not apply to employee complaints. It applies to all staff employed by the Agencies, including volunteers and sworn Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers seconded to, or on a work performance arrangement with PSBA. This procedure does not apply to the entity, the QPS (those sworn and unsworn staff in the QPS and not seconded to the PSBA). 3. POLICY STATEMENT The Agencies welcome feedback (whether positive or negative) about their services, decisions and the conduct of their employees and volunteers engaged in the delivery of services. All complaints will be handled in an equitable, objective and timely manner. This procedure is based on the requirements of section 219A of the Public Service Act 2008. It also complies with the Australian Standard on Customer Satisfaction – Guidelines for complaint handling in organisations (ISO 10002:2006). 4. IS IT A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT?

A complaint is a customer complaint if it raises concerns about the service, action or decision of an Agency or its staff by a person who is apparently directly affected by the service or action. Examples include a complaint about a decision or failure to make a decision by an employee; an act or failure to act of the Agency; the formulation of a proposal or intention by the Agency; the making of a recommendation by the Agency; or the customer service provided by an employee. However, not every expression of dissatisfaction needs to be handled as a customer complaint including:

• when a person responds adversely when provided with information that they do not agree with or accept. Examples include: general comments from a customer directed towards an employee such as “you don’t know what you are talking about” or “that’s not right”; or

• when a person complains about an issue that does not involve them being directly affected by a service or decision of the Agency, i.e. they are not a customer at the time. Examples include: a person complains that there is a residential unit complex which does not comply with fire regulations, or a road user complains that they observed a PSBA/IGEM vehicle driving over the speed limit without apparent justification.

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Complaints raised by employees or volunteers about any aspect of their employment or engagement with the Agencies are not customer complaints, and are subject to the Employee Complaints Procedure or Grievances Policy. Complaints alleging employee misconduct or corrupt conduct will not be dealt with under this procedure and are subject to relevant Human Resources and Ethical Standards policies. 5. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

After a customer complaint has been received, consideration should be given to the following:

• who is the subject of the complaint;

• what issue/s have been raised;

• what outcome is the complainant seeking;

• how should the complaint be classified;

• who should deal with the complaint; and

• how should the complaint be dealt with. 6. WHO SHOULD DEAL WITH THE COMPLAINT? When a customer complaint is received, a determination is to be made in relation to who should deal with it. This determination will depend on whether the complaint is classified as a simple or significant customer complaint. 6.1 Simple customer complaints Simple customer complaints:

• involve minimal risk or detriment to the complainant or the Agency;

• do not require formal investigation; and

• are suitable for local resolution.

Examples include complaints about incorrectly addressed correspondence, minor communication issues/misunderstandings, or minor delays in dealing with the matter. These complaints are more likely to have been made informally and directly to employees. Complaints of this nature are suited to frontline informal resolution. If a simple customer complaint is received by an employee, the employee should attempt to resolve it informally with the complainant. However, an employee should refer the complaint to their supervisor if any of the following issues arise:

• they are not confident they can deal with the complaint;

• the complainant requests someone else deal with the complaint;

• the problem is clearly outside their area of expertise; or

• the complainant is dissatisfied after attempts have been made to resolve the complaint.

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6.2 Significant customer complaints

Significant customer complaints are those that are more serious or complex with medium or high level of risk/detriment to the complainant or the Agencies. Examples include complaints about decisions; extensive delays; significant service delivery concerns; a challenge to the conduct or competency of an employee; or serious communication difficulties. These complaints are more likely to have been made formally in writing. Significant complaints received by an employee must be referred as soon as practicable to the relevant Agency’s Complaints Handling Manager. The Complaints Handling Manager will refer the complaint to the ESU for recording purposes. See section 13 for a list of Complaints Handling Managers. Significant complaints will be dealt with by the Agency subject of the complaint. The Complaints Handling Manager will determine who deals with a Significant complaint and ensure that the complaint is dealt with appropriately. 7. HOW TO MANAGE A COMPLAINT When assessing complaints, consideration should be given to the nature and seriousness of the complaint; the quantity and quality of information in the complaint; and whether the presenting issues can be productively dealt with. Anonymous complaints should be assessed against the same criteria. 7.1 Simple complaints Employees should:

• respond to the complainant in an objective, polite and courteous manner;

• engage with the complainant to correctly understand the complaint;

• seek clarification and confirm the issues, relevant information, and outcomes sought (i.e. summarise the main points made and ask whether you have got it right);

• clarify the application of any relevant policies or procedures;

• deal with the complaint;

• resolve the complaint (see section 8 for options to resolve complaints) and generally acknowledge the complainant’s sense of grievance, justified or not;

• if unable to resolve the matter immediately, advise the complainant about the complaints process and indicative timeframe for a response; and

• take reasonable action to prevent similar complaints in the future. If the employee is not able to satisfactorily resolve the complaint then the matter should be referred to the relevant Agency’s Complaint Handling Manager as a significant complaint. 7.2 Significant complaints Employees should refer significant complaints as soon as practicable to their Agency’s Complaint Handling Manager. The Complaint Handling Manager will:

• arrange for an acknowledgement letter within five business days if the complaint cannot be resolved within that period;

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• refer the complaint to a senior manager to be managed/dealt with.

The employee dealing with the complaint will:

• review/deal with the matters complained about (see section 8 for options for dealing with a complaint);

• where appropriate seek advice from other functional units or officers with particular expertise;

• seek to deal with the complaint within 30 days; and

• provide a written response to the complainant addressing the issues raised and providing a specific outcome in relation to their complaint.

Details of the outcome of all significant complaints must be forwarded back to the Complaints Handling Manager. The Complaints Handling Manager will ensure that the complaint was dealt with and the outcome is appropriate in the circumstances. The Complaints Handling Manager will advise the ESU of the result of the complaint. 8. OPTIONS FOR DEALING WITH A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT Customer complaints can be dealt with by:

• taking no action (in rare cases for e.g. trivial/vexatious complaints, however, the complainant should be advised of the reason);

• informal resolution by conciliation with the complainant;

• mediation;

• fact finding; or

• investigation (as a last resort). 9. INTERNAL REVIEW OF A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT Complainants will be provided with an avenue of internal review if they are dissatisfied with how their complaint has been dealt with. An employee who receives a request for a review from a complainant must forward the request to the relevant Agency’s Complaints Handling Manager. The Complaints Handling Manager will refer the request to the following persons for review:

• PSBA:Business Unit Director/Manager

• QFES Corporate: Executive Director

• QFES Regional Operations: Chief Superintendent

• QFES RFSQ: Regional Manager

• QFES SES: Regional Director/Manager

• IGEM: Business Unit Director/Manager The reviewing officer should have had no previous involvement in the matter, have no conflict of interest and be impartial, qualified and/or experienced to conduct the review. It is preferable that the reviewing officer be more senior to the officer who dealt with the complaint. Internal reviews will be conducted in accordance with natural justice.

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Sufficient information should be gathered to make a decision, provide reasons and identify appropriate actions for resolution. The reviewing officer should document their findings and recommendations and decide the outcome including any remedies. The review officer will forward a report of their review to the Complaints Handling Manager. The Complaints Handling Manager will advise the ESU of the outcome of the review. Complainants who are dissatisfied with an internal review of their complaint will be advised to contact the Queensland Ombudsman if they wish to seek an external examination of the matter. 10. OUTCOME ADVICE TO THE COMPLAINANT Some possible outcomes of a complaint include:

• an expression of empathy or regret that the complainant has suffered some form of detriment, without admitting any fault;

• expediting the work on a matter where there has been some delay;

• offering an apology where it is apparent that an officer was at fault;

• providing explanations and giving reasons for a decision or action;

• undertaking some remedial action; and/or

• providing training/counselling to the officer concerned. It may not always be possible to satisfy a complainant. Common sense will dictate whether the employee handling the complaint has done everything reasonably possible to resolve the complainant’s concerns. The complainant should be told in clear terms what the Agency can and cannot do in relation to their desired outcomes. 11. REPORTING It is important that all significant customer complaints (including those escalated from simple to significant) are referred to the relevant Complaints Handling Manager and reported to the ESU (for recording purposes), unless the Business Unit has in place a formal process for recording significant customer complaints (for example, Blue Card Services, PSBA has a process for recording customer complaints in relation to decisions made about whether or not to issue a Blue Card). Simple customer complaints that are resolved informally at the local level do not have to be recorded and reported to the Complaints Handling Manager. The ESU manages a customer complaints database which requires the following information:

• the date the complaint was received, acknowledged and finalised;

• the name of the complainant;

• a précis of the complaint;

• the complainant’s desired outcome (if provided);

• the name of the officer subject of the complaint;

• the outcome of the complaint; and

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• particulars in relation to any review of the complaint.

It is a statutory requirement that each Agency publish on their website (by 30 September) the number of customer complaints actioned in the financial year. By 31 July, the ESU will provide each Agency with the number of customer complaints referred to the ESU during the previous financial year. 12. MONITORING EFFECTIVENESS De-identified complaints information will be used by the Agencies to identify complaint trends and to identify improvements in the way services are provided to the Queensland community. The Agencies will regularly review the performance of the customer complaints system, to determine:

• the level of compliance with this procedure, particularly in relation to resolution timeframes; and

• if any changes are required to the complaint handling process to improve outcomes. 13. COMPLAINTS HANDLING MANAGERS PSBA: Investigations Manager, ESU

� ethicalstandards.unit@psba.qld.gov.au ℡ (07) 3239 0156

QFES: Executive Director, Operational Service Improvement & Performance Directorate

� russell.neuendorf@qfes.qld.gov.au ℡ (07) 3635 3021

IGEM: Director, Performance, Reporting and Policy Analysis

� Alison.spruce@igem.qld.gov.au ℡ (07) 3224 8684

14. ASSISTANCE AND APPROVAL For assistance, contact the Investigations Manager, ESU

� ethicalstandards.unit@psba.qld.gov.au ℡ (07) 3239 0156

Policy Owner: Executive Director, Ministerial and Executive Services

� ED.Ministerial&ExecServices@psba.qld.gov.au

℡ (07) 3227 7409

Kelvin Anderson Chief Executive Officer Public Safety Business Agency Approval date: 24/03/2015

Review date: One year from the approval date, however may be triggered earlier by a change in the complaints management environment.