Management of Change: a step-by-step plan for controlled change

When does something count as a change?

A change is anything that alters the known situation and can therefore create new risks for safety, health, environment or quality. It is not only about big investments. A different supplier of a substance, temporary staffing or an adjusted machine setting can be enough.

A good rule of thumb: if work, environment or people become different from what your risk assessment and instructions assume, it is a change. If in doubt, treat it as a change and let the size of the check determine how much work it becomes. Typical triggers:

• A new, rebuilt or relocated machine or installation
• A different process, a different way of working or new software
• A different raw material, substance or supplier
• A new location or a renovation
• A reorganization, different staffing or a shift in tasks and authorities
• New laws and regulations or new customer requirements
• A temporary adjustment, for example a makeshift solution

Why manage changes?

Many accidents and quality problems do not arise in the normal situation but right after a change. Instructions no longer fit, people have not been trained and protective measures are missing. ISO 45001 therefore asks for a way of working to plan changes and assess the consequences in advance. See it as the bridge between your risk assessment and practice.

A change also affects more than the part that changes itself. A new machine has consequences for the TRA, the RI&E, the maintenance program, the emergency plan and the training. Without a fixed process you keep forgetting one of those parts, and you only notice when something goes wrong.

Step 1: the request

Every change starts with a request. Have whoever wants to introduce a change submit a short request: what changes, why, where and when, and who is the owner? The lower the threshold, the more changes you see up front instead of discovering them afterwards. A short form or a digital intake point is enough.

Classify the change immediately by size, for example small, medium or large. That determines how heavy the follow-up is. A small change gets a short check, a large one a team and an extensive analysis. Record in advance which questions decide the class of a change, so that it is not a personal judgment.

Step 2: the impact analysis

The impact analysis answers the question: what does this change do to our risks? Involve people from the disciplines concerned and also those who do the work, because they see what is not obvious on paper. For a small change you do this in a short conversation, for a large change in a structured session with a report. Ask questions such as:

• Which new hazards arise and which existing risks change?
• Are the TRA, the RI&E or the risk register still current?
• What does it mean for environment, quality and laws and regulations?
• Which training, instruction or authorizations are needed?
• Which documents, drawings and procedures must be adjusted?
• Which resources and time are needed, and what is the fallback scenario?

Step 3: approval

Decide in advance who may approve what. A small, low-risk change can be handled by the supervisor. For a large change, the safety specialist, the technical department and management decide together. That way it stays quick where it can and heavy where it must. Record the approval matrix, so nobody has to guess who must sign.

Approval can come with conditions: train first, test first, a trial period first. Record those conditions and only let the change start once they are met. Rejecting or postponing is also a valid decision, as long as the requester knows the reason.

Steps 4 and 5: implementing and evaluating

Carry out the change according to plan. Instruct and train those involved before they work with it, adjust procedures, drawings and risk assessments and make clear who does what. For a large change, a controlled start, such as a trial run, works better than everything at once.

Then evaluate: does it work as intended, are there unexpected effects, new incidents or complaints, and is the documentation correct? Only after a positive evaluation do you close the change. A temporary change gets an end date and a decision: back to the old situation or make it permanent.

Practical examples

The step-by-step plan is the same everywhere, but the content of the analysis differs per type of change. A technical change raises different questions than a shift in staffing, and a new supplier different ones again than a new process. Four examples show what usually comes up in the analysis:

• Machine: a new press is installed. Think of guarding, noise, maintenance, operator training and adjusting the TRA.
• Process: a different cleaning agent or a different way of working. Think of hazardous substances, safety data sheets, personal protective equipment and disposal.
• Supplier: a subcontractor takes over part of the work. Think of competences, certification, instruction and supervision.
• Organization: a crew gets smaller or tasks shift. Think of staffing, authorizations, workload and emergency procedures.

Common mistakes

The biggest mistake is working retroactively: the change has already been made and the form is only filled in afterwards. Then you control nothing, you merely record. A second mistake is a procedure so heavy that people work around it. Let the size of the change determine how heavy the route is.

Also common: temporary solutions that become permanent, requests without an owner, impact analyses that only cover technology while people, training and documents are forgotten, and changes that are not evaluated. The result is that the risk assessment drifts further and further from the actual situation.

How BrydgeOne supports this

With the Management of Change module you roll out changes in a controlled way, with impact analysis and approval. You assess the consequences in Risks & opportunities, carry measures over to Actions and keep one current version of instructions and procedures in Document management, with read confirmation.