Course Description

The development and use of effective and user-friendly operating and maintenance procedures in process facilities is essential for safe and efficient operations. Written procedures are also a requirement of OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard, CFR 1910.119. Procedures can have as much impact on process safety as the process equipment. It should also be noted that the Procedures Element of the Process Safety Management Standard is one of the most frequently cited elements by OSHA year-after-year.

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 new methods produce procedures that are much more effective and usable.

This course moves beyond the fundamentals of writing effective procedures covered in the course "Principles of Procedure Writing for the Process Industries" and covers more advanced issues in designing and developing procedures. The role of a management system for procedures is explained ranging over procedure design, development, implementation, maintenance and control. You will learn how to decide when procedures are needed. You will also learn how to design procedures to ensure their usability. Guidelines are provided on various matters such as the appropriate use of language, numerical information, graphics, lists and tables. The writing of special types of procedural steps such as non- sequential, continuous and time-dependent is explained. Guidelines for drafting, evaluating and validating procedures are also covered. Procedure maintenance, control and training are explained. The course concludes with the presentation of guidelines for preparing several specific types of procedures including standard operating procedures, safe work practices, emergency operating procedures, and maintenance procedures. Throughout the course, examples are used to illustrate the guidelines presented.

A course manual is provided. In addition to the course presentation slides, it includes resource materials to assist in designing and developing new procedures and reviewing and modifying existing procedures.

Objective

To learn how to design and develop effective and usable operating, maintenance and other procedures for use in any situation. This includes the improvement of existing procedures.

Target Audience

Operations and Maintenance Personnel, Process Engineers, Process Safety Personnel and others who are responsible for the design and development of procedures.

Prerequisite

Attendance at Primatech training course "Principles of Procedure Writing for the Process Industries" or equivalent. Experience in Process Operations, Maintenance, or Process Safety is desirable.

Course Contents

• Management Systems
• Selection of Procedures to Develop
• Human Factors in the Design of Procedures
• Use of Syntax, Vocabulary and Punctuation
• Presentation of Numerical Information
• Lists and Tables
• Conditional Statements
• Notes, Cautions and Warnings
• Cross-references
• Use of Graphics
• Special Types of Procedural Steps
• Drafting and Validation of Procedures
• Evaluating Procedures
• Accessibility and Use of Procedures
• Control of Procedures
• Training Personnel Using Procedures
• Guidelines for Preparing Specific Types of Procedures

Duration / Credits

• Two days
• 1.4 CEUs or 14 PDHs awarded

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