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Procedures and documents

Procedures and work instructions are the agreed safe ways of doing things. They usually consist of step-by-step instructions and related information needed to help carry out day-to-day tasks safely. They may also include checklists, decision aids, diagrams, flow-charts and other types of job aids. Work instructions are essential for a number of reasons, in particular to:

minimise errors/failures
protect against loss of operating knowledge (for example, when experienced personnel leave)
standardise working practice
make sure that everyone has the same basic level of information
provide a basis for training, and
meet statutory requirements.

Procedures and work instructions are frequently cited as the cause of major accidents. Typically, there are three reasons for this:

too much reliance was placed on these written documents to control risk
the work instructions were not followed, even though they were suitable and sufficient, and
the work instructions were inadequate.

There are some (bad) examples of procedures in our human factors gallery.

We can review your procedures and documents as well as incident reports to provide insight into their effect on business performance. If procedures and documents are a concern, we can help create design templates for you to use or even develop the full procedures. Types of document we typically work with are:

work control cards
operational process instructions
checklists

Also see our training packages to help you develop your skills to be able to write accurate, clear and concise instructions for safety critical work.

How clear and practical are your written procedures?

Fill in this short questionnaire to see if poor procedures and documents may be causing problems for your business.

* Indicates required field

I often use reminders and checklists to help me know where I am on a task *

Some instructions seem needlessly detailed and complicated - I don’t always follow them if there is a better way of working *

I always get told about changes to work instructions *

The documents and manuals I use are of a high standard, practical and easy to use *

Your job title *

What sector do you work in? *

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If you'd like us to talk to you about how we may be able to help, please Contact Us.