Health and safety regulations require companies to document the steps, hazards and controls associated with a job so that workers can complete the task safely.  Most companies refer to these documents as Safe Operating Procedures or SOP's.  What I've come to discover as we help companies manage their safety programs with our online Safety Management System, is that very few companies have a complete job inventory, and in most cases, the existing procedures are incomplete or vague.

There are three reasons managers, supervisors, lead hands and other key personnel do not fully buy into Safe Operating Procedure documentation:
     1.  "It would take me 50 minutes to show a new hire something that I could do in 5 minutes";
     2.  "If you want something done right, you should do it yourself"; and
     3.  "Nobody reads those binders anyway".

The first two issues are philosophical.  Teaching new hires how to do procedures properly is simply part of the mentoring process, and is what differentiates growing companies from stagnant ones.  Young people deserve the chance to learn how to do new tasks properly.  The knowledge they gain will keep them safe and will improve their value as employees.

The third reason, "Nobody reads those binders anyway" has been a hard problem to overcome for most companies.  Procedure binders are tucked away on bookshelves and are full of procedures that may not be applicable to every worker.  Online safety management systems, like SAFETYSYNC are helping companies overcome this problem.  Simply key in the steps, hazards and controls, then choose severity and probability levels from the risk matrix, and finally assign it to employees based on their positions.  We even offer clients the ability to attach pictures to each step, which dramatically improves the workers' level of understanding and retention.  Employees are automatically notified of their requirements for reviewing the SOP's.  Compliance is automatically monitored, and changes are rolled out instantly.

We've seen the importance of Safe Operating Procedures improve dramatically when our clients sign up on our system.  They see the potential improvements in the way SOP's are delivered and administered.  I expect this investment in better Safe Operating Procedures will quickly translate to safer and more productive worksites.