Development of a procedure writers’ guide framework: Integrating the procedure life cycle and reflecting on current industry practices

Abstract

The current study aims to advance a procedure development process that will create procedures as effective safeguards. Several past incidents identified that many current procedural systems failed to support workers conducting their work safely and effectively. There is currently a dearth of systematic inquiry regarding the procedure development process. A key element of the procedure development process is writers' guide, which dictates how these procedures should be developed, written, reviewed and managed. The current effort collected 16 writers' guides across various industries such as chemical, oil and gas, nuclear, and energy. Different components of these writers' guides were identified, summarized, and later categorized according to a newly developed writers' guide framework. The framework uses four phases of the procedure life cycle and five sections for procedure content. The analysis showed that industry practices primarily focus on general goals of the procedure, writing style, and review process. Many important components of the procedure, such as process hazard information, execution challenges, and training requirements were not addressed adequately. Of the 41 components, there were only 3 that 80% of the writers' guides contained suggesting little consensus about the content. The proposed writers' guide framework organizes all components including low frequency of appearance ones in different phases of procedure life cycle. The significance of the current procedure writers' guide framework is that it not only produces a structure for a comprehensive writers’ guide but also opens an opportunity for future improvement in current procedure writing practices.