All businesses have operating procedures, whether it be how to control a broiler house ventilation system or how to clean equipment in the processing plant. These procedures help employees complete essential work activities. Yet, when was the last time that you updated your procedures? Do they accurately convey what is happening in your facility?
Conducting regular reviews provides the opportunity to update, simplify and improve procedures. Consider the following when reviewing procedures.
Review regularly
Procedures need to be reviewed whenever something changes, such as a new deboner being placed in the processing line or when new guidelines on the humane loading of broilers for transport are received. Even the most routine procedures should be reviewed annually to ensure accuracy.
Engage the right employees
Not only are front line employees most familiar with activities, they will be more likely to follow procedures they helped to create and know are accurate.
- Recruit an experienced employee who routinely adds supplements to water systems to review and modify the document or, for example, observe an experienced worker unloading and shackling birds in the processing plant.
- If activities do not match the procedure, ask your worker why and implement any changes that improve procedures. For example, your team has identified a simpler, yet still appropriate, method to take bacterial counts in the plant.
- Toward the end of the review, observe a new employee following the procedure. The worker’s ability to complete the task using only the procedure will identify incomplete, misleading or unclear steps that require modification.
Explain procedural steps
Do not simply tell the employee they must record temperature and humidity in the broiler house; tell them why that information matters. Not only will employees do a better job and be more engaged when they know the “why," they will also be able to provide suggestions for improvement.
Does procedure contain the right detail?
A procedure should contain all the essential steps for completing a task, while still remaining simple enough to use daily. Ask yourself:
- Does it really matter if an employee checks the feeders or the waterers first, as long as both are checked? Write the procedure to allow flexibility when appropriate.
- Does the processing line start-up procedure contain steps only taken by mechanics during periodic maintenance? If so, move those specific tasks to a new or different procedure.
Break down into subprocesses
Employees will remember multiple subprocesses more easily than one long process. Use bullet points or other structural elements to create subprocesses.
Clarify tasks with visual elements
While words are needed for the details, visual elements can greatly enhance and clarify a procedure. For example:
- Use a flow chart to outline when to cull birds or when to contact the veterinarian.
- Use pictures to show appropriate personal protection equipment and how to put it on.
Guides/checklists help
Would it help to have a checklist for starting a piece of equipment every day? Would a temperature conversion chart be useful? Create portions of the procedure that can be copied and placed in appropriate locations in the facility.
Use appropriate language
Procedures that are vague or difficult to read will be hard to follow. Modify your procedure to:
- Use as few words as possible.
- Eliminate or minimize jargon, acronyms and abbreviations.
- Simplify language. Consider the education level of those following the procedure and whether it is written in the employee’s primary language.
- Consider whether you need to translate the procedure into multiple languages.
- Write steps as short sentences. Long sentences are harder to understand and tend to include more than one step. Instead of “As part of your tasks, it is important to document the temperature and humidity in the broiler house," use “Record temperature. Record humidity."
- Use imperative or command sentences that place the action verb first. They are easier to read and focus the employee on the task at hand. Instead of, “Better cutting is obtained when knives are sharp," use “Sharpen knives."
Once the procedure is updated, keep it in an easily accessible location. Procedures cannot guide activities if they cannot be found. An up-to-date paper copy in a facility entryway is more likely to be referenced than an electronic copy on a computer system employees either cannot access or are uncomfortable using.
Flowcharts can visually clarify the steps within a procedure. | M J Davis
Benefits of operating procedures
Operating procedure contain step-by-step instructions describing how to complete a routine task. When business needs or regulations require everyone to complete a task in a specific way, you need an operating procedure for it. Well-written procedures provide many benefits, including:
- They help your team conduct tasks in the most efficient, economical and effective way.
- They reduce errors and improve safety, since everyone is aware of how to complete the task appropriately.
- They ensure critical information remains with the company and new employees have a base to start from, especially important considering the high turnover in many poultry industry jobs.
- They improve quality, support continuous process improvement and provide a starting point for evaluating issues.
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