OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR THE PROCESS

INDUSTRIES
Most regulations and rules to do with process risk and safety management require that operating
procedures be written and followed. Regulators understand that procedures describe the manmachine
interface; consequently they recognize that high quality procedures are absolutely
essential for safe operations. In addition, a number of voluntary standards, such as those covered
under ISO 9000, require that procedures be clearly defined and written down.
Typically rules, regulations and standards to do with procedures do not provide detailed guidance
on issues such as writing style, length, content, appearance or level of detail nor should they.
Every organization and facility is unique; hence there cannot be a single, universal correct way of
writing procedures. Factors that affect the design and content of the procedures include the
following:
The hazards associated with the chemicals that are handled at the facility;
The experience and knowledge of the work force;
The complexity of the technology being used;
The degree to which the processes are automated; and
Whether the process is a continuous or batch operation.
For these reasons it is not possible to have a single one-size-fits-all design for an operating or
maintenance manual. Hence the material provided here in this ebook does not promote any
specific system or methodology for the writing and use of procedures. Instead only general
principles are put forward here; these principles can be transformed into guidance and rules that
are relevant to the needs and requirements of specific facilities and projects. So, for example, the
guidance provided here makes a distinction between instructions and information. The suggestion
provided in this ebook is that information should be separated from the actual operating
instructions. However, such a division is not a requirement, it is merely a suggestion. What is
important in situations such as this is that managers and technicians go through the thinking
process as to how procedures and information are to be organized and linked to one another. The
final decision is up to them. This unfettered approach to the writing of procedures is very much in
the spirit of the process safety regulations and other performance-based standards.
Having freedom with regard to the choice of the design and structure of an operating manual does
not mean, however, that the people who write the procedures have a license to write any way they
choose, regardless of what their colleagues in other units are doing. Each facility needs a
standard, which, once established, must be followed by everyone, for two reasons. First, a
standardized format makes it easier for technicians to transfer from one area of the facility to
another because they will be already familiar with the organization of the procedures. The second
advantage of standardization, and the one that is actually the more important, is that it makes the
writing process much easier. Instead of having to create instructions from nothing and then write
those instructions on to a blank sheet of paper, the writers of the procedures, at least to a certain
extent, merely have to follow a prescribed formula, thus reducing potential problems associated
with writers block. (The avoidance of writers block is one of the reasons for stressing the
usefulness of having a Standard Operating Procedures library, as discussed on page 41. The use
of such a library can help create a situation where the procedures writers are not doing much
more than filling in the blanks.)