Procedure Maintenance

Procedure maintenance is essential to remain in compliance with OSHA process safety management (PSM) and EPA risk management program (RMP).  A Procedure is a written document that defines a plan, its protocols, and provides step-by-step instructions on how to implement the plan.  Every process involving more that a single individual needs to have written procedures.  Written procedures are absolutely essential in all phases of project activities where several people will be involved in a specific work assignment.

Procedure maintenance is essential to receiving and maintaining ISO 9000 certification of your product.  Written procedures for every facet of the production operation, the laboratory analytical procedures, and the handling and shipping procedures must be written and maintained.  ISO 9000 certification requires that the operators and laboratory analyst follow these procedures at all times.

Procedure maintenance must be applied to the training materials used to train operators, general mechanics, instrument and electrical personnel, and laboratory technicians.  Procedure writers are skilled professionals that must understand not only the objective for a particular procedure, but also be intimately familiar with every step involved in meeting the procedure objective. 

Procedure writers are called upon to develop training procedures for prefabricated modules that may be purchased as turn-key units to be installed in a plant.  Although the unit may arrive with a complete set of operating instructions, training procedures must be prepared.  These training procedures will be used to train the operators who will run the unit, and the mechanics and technicians that will be called upon to service and maintain the unit. 

Procedure maintenance is required for every laboratory analytical method used to support plant operations.  These laboratory measurements are essential to certify that the product being shipped to a customer meets all of the guaranteed product specifications.  In some cases those specifications require that plant operating conditions held within certain ranges during production are included as part of the product specification.

An area of special importance for procedure writers is in developing safety procedures that apply to specific operations, and the safety training procedures used to train the personnel. Involved.  This is an area where safety procedure writers are also often safety trainers.

Process Safety Management (PSM) requires documenting safety procedures, and any safety related incident that occurs during any phase of a project.  The procedure writer is the one who develops the procedures to be used in the process of managing the safety profile of the work being performed during project work and afterwards in the actual operation and maintenance of the plant facilities.

Throughout a project written procedures will be required for both pre-commissioning and commissioning activities, and especially for start-up activities.  Start-up of a new process, or one that has undergone significant changes, requires a unique set of start-up procedures that should be prepared by the procedure writer.  These procedures will control the each step taken during the start-up of newly installed equipment.  The procedure writer will include as part of the start-up procedure a set of procedures on how to shutdown the unit during the start-up when problems develop that can only be corrected when the unit is shutdown and the equipment cleared of process material.. 

Procedure maintenance is essential for a plant to remain in compliance with OSHA and EPA regulations, as well as state and local regulations. Procedure maintenance should also be applied to those procedures used to maintain ISO 9000 certification.  Process Technical Services has procedure writers with the skills and experience to handle procedure development and maintenance for all phases of project, plant, and process laboratory operation.