Predisposing Factors Level 3 - Codes, Rules and Procedures

Predisposing Factors Level 3 - Codes, Rules and Procedures 

rules and procedures (including, for example, method statements, safety instractions, permits to work, safe working practices etc.) are, in effect, the instruction mannals of the Safety Management System. Like instraction manuals in everyday life they range from totally invaluable to completely useless. 

The whole purpose of safety codes, rales and procedures is to provide the information on which to build routinely safe behaviom. On this basis, failure to implement the reqnirements of safety codes, rules and procedures is unquestionably a violation and is often seen as the root canse of an accident/incident and an imequivocal indication that the person who breached the rules is responsible for the ensuing accident/incident. However, this conclnsion assumes that the code, rale or procedure is appropriate, practical, well written, well communicated (whether by formal training or otherwise) and appropriately supervised/reinfoiced. Unfortunately, this is often far from the truth as the examples below show quite clearly. 

A mine had introdnced a new procedure to ensure that loco drivers had an easy way of informing fitters and electricians of any safety concerns about their locos. The mine introdnced a Loco Drivers Defects Book where the drivers could note any concerns they had as they came off-shift. The on-going fitters and electricians checked this book before going underground at the start of their shift. The effectiveness of this system was reviewed as part of a wider Human Error Audit study (Simpson et al., 1994). 

One driver had entered a concern as he came off shift on a Monday morning. The same entry was repeated after the Tuesday morning shift, after the Wednesday morning shift and after the Thursday morning shift. The entiy on Friday morning was slightly different and read  

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