Safe and effective working procedures
We design and review Standard Operating Procedures and Standard Maintenance Procedures so that you can be sure your staff are working in the most optimal and safe ways. Using human factors techniques, we develop procedures that are usable and can be easily maintained and kept up to date as processes change.
Importance of good procedures
Standard Operating Procedures and Standard Maintenance Procedures are vitally important across many businesses. They play a key role in guiding employees to work safely, productively and in supporting process continuity.
Examples include procedures for servicing and maintaining equipment, for carrying out daily tasks, or for emergencies. They can also include procedures for communicating information, managing personnel.
Where you need a standard approach to an activity – to reduce scope for things to go wrong, you usually need a documented procedure. In some cases this should be a quick-reference flow-chart or checklist, in other cases it may need to be a complex detailed document. Detail, style and format/media will all depend on how you want the procedure to be used.
Preparing and rolling out procedures can be a challenging undertaking and Guildford Ergonomics can help you through all stages of the process.
How we optimise your procedures
Our approach makes sure you have procedures that are legally compliant as well as being fit for purpose and are used, not left on a dusty shelf! Typically we follow these steps when developing or revising procedures:
- Identifying and prioritizing tasks that need procedures / standardizing
- Agreeing the format and style of procedures in line with ergonomics best-practice
- Walk-through/Talk-through processes with one or more of your experienced operators
- For more complex tasks we will apply appropriate task analysis techniques such as Hierarchical Task Analysis
- Design a procedure template if required
- Initial draft sent to client for review
- Re-drafting changes followed by final focus group with client and operators
We will also advise you on the best approach to rolling out new or modified procedures, and how to manage your procedures in the long term. We provide ongoing support in these areas where necessary.