Description
Written procedures are required for many activities in a process such as operations and maintenance. Many companies assume their employees can write procedures simply by documenting what they do. However, this approach often produces ineffective procedures. There are much better approaches that can be used to write procedures that do not require any more work than the traditional "write what you do" approach. These better methods produce procedures that are much more effective and usable.
Procedures that are properly written, documented, and followed help to ensure that the knowledge required to safely operate processes and equipment is made available to the appropriate operating and maintenance personnel, management, emergency response and preparedness teams, safety personnel and others. Procedures can have as much impact on process safety as the process equipment.
Procedures are best developed with the active participation of those who will use them. Information provided by procedure users on the actions required must be cast into a format that helps ensure usability. Use of guidelines for drafting, evaluating and validating procedures is important. They should address the appropriate use of language, numerical information, graphics, lists and tables and the proper formulation of special types of procedural steps such as non-sequential, continuous and time-dependent.
Why Address Procedures?
Written procedures are required by OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The Operating Procedures element of the PSM standard is one of the most frequently cited elements by OSHA year-after-year and therefore deserves special attention to ensure compliance. Good engineering practices place a heavy emphasis on having comprehensive, up-to-date procedures and training the employees who use them. Indeed, the development and use of effective and user-friendly operating and maintenance procedures in process facilities is essential for safe and efficient operations.
Why Primatech?
Primatech is experienced in both developing procedures and assessing existing procedures. We work with operating, maintenance and other types of procedures such as safe work practices, emergency procedures, and safety procedures. We understand the regulatory requirements for procedures and current industry standards for procedures development. Primatech also teaches training courses on procedure writing. They have been taught for numerous companies and for the Primatech Training Institute that offers open-enrollment courses.
Services Offered
- Needs assessment.
We help clients decide when and where procedures are needed. A report is provided documenting the needs. - Development of new procedures.
We design and develop procedures according to established principles and best practices to ensure they are written for their users. We provide the procedures in an appropriate format. - Revision of existing procedures.
We revise existing procedures to meet current standards. Primatech provides the revised procedures in an appropriate format. We also advise clients on procedure maintenance, control and training.
