Procedural Development

Develop organisational procedures for:

which are owned by all involved. Ownership builds commitment, and commitment to these procedures ensure that safety and productivity is maintained.

Standard Operating Procedures.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are the framework within which an organisation operates with due regard to safety, responsibility and productivity.

SOP’s must be designed to provide maximum protection for the individual and group without removing their ability to carry out the job required of them. SOP’s are also essential in upholding the reputation and integrity of the organisation with regard to the philosophy and values upheld by them in the way they go about their business and the way in which others see them.

The term "Standard Operating Procedures" is somewhat of a misnomer as it implies a set way of carrying out a procedure without allowing for change. SOP’s, of necessity, must be flexible enough to allow for changes in personnel, technology, environment and philosophy, and are better termed "Current Best Practices" (CBP’s), which better captures the spirit within which they operate.

CBP’s require a commitment from all areas of an organisation for them to be able to provide maximum protection to the organisation. A commitment to CBP’s within an organisation is not a "fait accompli", and may require a process whereby personnel are involved firstly in the development of the CBP’s, conferring ownership, and then involved in the ongoing and continuos review of them.

"Current Best Practice" = "this is the best way we know how to do this today. Tomorrow we may have a better way".

It is not enough however, to have in place the process for continual development of the CBP’s without a similarly effective process to distribute that new information. The bottom line is that for the CBP’s to be effective, they must not only be specific and relevant, they must also be common knowledge and understood by all involved. Most of all, they must be reliable. If people within an organisation are not able to rely on their CBP’s to protect them, then for all intents and purposes they are operating outside a safe working environment, and a review of the CBP’s is overdue.

In an organisation that has relevant and effective CBP’s, there is often an enhanced safety awareness which has a flow-on effect to others with whom the organisation comes into contact, whether it be inside or outside the organisation.

In order to introduce relevant and effective CBP’s, a variety of factors need to be taken into account. These will include:

the degree of ownership of the CBP’s by those using them.

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