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Procedure Use Frequency

Procedures are often written without consideration of how often they will be used by workers (CCPS, 1996).

Oftentimes, all workers receive the same version of a given procedure, regardless of their experience and knowledge base (Peres et al., 2016).

Infrequent Procedures

  • Infrequent procedures include start-up, temporary, and emergency procedures.
  • Workers are typically unfamiliar with all or parts of infrequently executed procedures (Bullemer and Hajdukiewicz, 2004).
  • Common practice is to not adjust the content or design of the procedure based on frequency. However, there is evidence that workers need more information for these procedures (Sasangohar et al., 2018).
  • A lack of guidelines and empirical research currently exists regarding developing these procedures. This topic is to be investigated during the subsequent phases of the NGAP project.

Frequent Procedures

  • Frequent procedures often include maintenance and standard operating procedures.
  • Workers familiar with a given task often rely on memory rather than documented procedures (CCPS, 1996).
  • Common practice is to not adjust the content or design of the procedure based on frequency.
    • There is evidence that workers need less information for these procedures (Sasangohar et al., 2018).
    • Anecdotal evidence shows that some companies will convert procedures to checklists for frequent tasks (Rafiei, Walser, Silberzweig & Nikolic, 2016). However, guidelines for checklists and procedures are not always the same.