Up-to-date standard operating procedures

Up-to-date standard operating procedures are now required by U.S. regulations for all chemical companies who handle significant quantities of highly hazardous chemicals. However, in the 1970s as chemical plants grew and grew, not all of them had up-to-date procedures to cover every unique situation. 

Another present-day investigator could have attributed this incident in part to the lack of readily available process information. This incident occurred some time after a major expansion in that unit. Most of the chemical process operators had less than 18 months of service and several sections of the unit did not have written operating procedures a ailable. By today s Process Safety Management standards, such vital information as up-to-date standard operating procedures is mandatory. Also by today s standards, a Management of Change procedure would be in place. 

MIRADCOM Safety Office. The safety office contains profes-sional safety engineers with considerable experience in dealing with hazardous operations. They maintain up to date knowledge and information on safety equipment and procedures. Files are kept on all accidents and incidents. They review and approve all standard operating procedures and serve as a source of advice and information on all safety matters. 

Standard operating procedures shall be available and maintained up to date for all manufacturing operations. 

Authorized written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all sections of Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines are retained for reference and inspection. These SOPs are regularly reviewed and kept up to date by authorized persons. The reasons for revision are documented. A system is in place to ensure that only current SOPs are in use. Records of SOPs for all computer and automated systems are retained where appropriate. 

Moreover, many companies are now required either by law or by industry consensus standards to write thorough, up-to-date operating procedures. Typically, these regulations and standards do not provide much detailed guidance on how procedures should be written but they do put managers feet to the fire—they have to get procedures written and their technicians trained in order to stay in compliance with the rules (and also to minimize potential liability problems). 

If the procedures are to be kept up to date, and if they are to maintained to a standard format, it is suggested that a one person be given the job of Operating Manual Coordinator —or some... 

All standard operating procedures (SOPs), specifications, manuals, and instructions are available in the specified binder in the laboratory check with table of contents, all documents up-to-date. 

---