Should I Write a Procedure?

One of the difficult questions that OH&S managers face is – “Do we need a written procedure for [some process]?”  The dilemma is that although written procedures are a necessary part of an occupational safety and health management system – if you create too many formal procedures your OHSMS becomes complex, cumbersome and unwieldy.

 I just got done reading an article in the October 2009 Quality Progress Magazine that sets out a nifty tool for making this decision – a 2 x 2 matrix for deciding whether or not to standardize a process.  Although the example given in this article – Building a Consensus – is  for a quality system process, it can be easily adapted to making standardization decisions in an OH&S management system.

Try it out for your OH&S management system and let me know – “Did it work?” – by posting your comments below.

© ENLAR® Compliance Services, Inc. (2009)

Tags: decision making

Category: OHSMS Documentation, Resources & Tools