Overview

Critical/task analysis and procedures are one of the critical systems in a proactive and integrated health and safety management system.  

• Serves as hazard identification and risk assessment as required by law.
• Ensures total involvement and participation by all levels of employees as required by law.
• Serves as a clear step-by-step description on how to execute a task at optimum health, safety and efficiency; enhancing task productivity and quality of workmanship.
• Ensures control of task related hazards and risks.
• Reduces management legal liabilities. This document could be produced as evidence in an investigation or enquiry to demonstrate the manager’s duty of care.
• Serves as an effective training tool for existing, new, and transferred employees. It is also invaluable in identifying training needs as well as evaluating the effectiveness of current employee training.
• Can be used during incident investigations to determine compliance to standards.
• Serves as the basis for effective task observations.
• Serves as discussion topic for pre shift briefings, or other meetings.
• Ensures ownership of task procedures.

The technique described here systematically analyses the work from the perspective of health, safety, quality, and efficiency, all at the same time.  Thus, it deals with all of these critical concerns in today’s workplace.   

This approach actually gives greater assurance of the safety aspects.  Without such an integrated approach, changes can be made in the production or quality areas which have a negative impact on the safety and health aspects.   

Also, because it facilitates input from the people who actually do the work, this technique is completely in tune with the current emphasis on employee involvement and participative management.  The result is procedures and practices which are more valuable, more useful, and more likely to be used by all concerned.