hi all

I have currently been updating risk assessments and from them i am in the throws of assisting team leaders to write up new uncomplicated safe working procedures.

Does anyone know of a good way of doing this, cradle to the grave etc

cheers

No is the simple answer. Procedures need to be clearly articulated by someone who knows how the task should be carried out safely. Stating the obvious but succinct springs to mind. They should then be reviewed by those who are going to use them for feedback. Unfortunately I have seen as many poorly written procedures as I have good ones.

Whilst a few places I visit suffer from a lack of procedures, the vast majority have too many procedures, and their procedures are too long and wordy. You cannot write a procedure for everything, and should not try to. Instead, you should prioritise activities so that you have really good procedures for the tasks where they are needed, and not worry about the rest.

The other thing to realise is that one size does not fit all where procedures are concerned. Unfortunately quality systems have tended to standardise format and presentation, which is why they are all so wordy. The format should suit the task and the person who will use it. Flow charts are good for supporting people when making decisions, but of limited value for many tasks. Checklists are good for tasks that have to be performed the same way every time, and it is critical every step is performed and in the correct order. But having too many checklists means they lose their value, and there is a real danger that people follow the checklist without thinking about what they are doing. Including photos and diagrams in procedures can be really useful but can be real nightmare to do, and so you need to make sure that they are only included where they really add value.

Other points to consider include:
* Very wordy sentences and instructions will often be ignored
* When there is a long list of instructions, those in the middle will often be omitted
* Too many or too few instructions will be ignored
* Procedures that tell people how to perform basic skills will be ignored.
* The more procedures you have the less likely it is that any will be read
* The more text in a procedure the less likely someone is to follow it to the letter.

In answer to the original question, I'd suggest the following:
1. Create a list of tasks performed
2. Identify the 10% most critical with regard to potential for significant consequence if the task is performed in correctly
3. Consider who performs each of the most critical tasks
4. For each critical task, consider how a procedure will help the person performing the task to perform it correctly
5. Develop the procedure to fulfil the requirements. It needs to have a clear title, describe the situation is to be used, describe one step at a time, include warnings before the step.
6. Review the procedure making sure it is a format that is easy to use in practice, easy to understand, has all the detail it needs, and nothing it does not need
7. Test the procedure with all the people who will perform the task, making sure they understand they need to be performing the task exactly how described
8. Issue the procedure for use.

I believe, following the above steps will make it clear to everyone why you want to have procedures. If this is understood the format and presentation will fall out almost automatically. When you have covered the top 10%, move on to the next. I'm fairly confident that when you have covered about 30% of the tasks you will have done enough.