Introduction to Fire Safety Management

General principles of control
111
The documentation should be written in such a 
way as to be easily intelligible whosoever will refer 
to it. It should be user friendly and avoid the use of 
tech nical jargon as far as possible. Many safe operating 
procedures within industry are reproduced as summary 
sheets, which are on many occasions posted adjacent 
to or on the machinery to which they relate.
Documentary control is an essential part of 
managing a successful system and in particular when 
introducing a safe system of work. An effective document 
management system will ensure that the most up-to-date 
system of work is being operated to, particularly when 
amendments have been made to reduce the overall risk.
To assist an organisation to record and document 
its safe systems of work many will adopt a standard 
format such as the use of a template. This is particu-
larly prevalent in the construction industry sector where 
templates for the production of method statements exist. 
Whichever format is developed it is likely that it will need 
to include as a minimum:
➤
The name of the task or operation
➤
The address or location
➤
A brief description of the operation
➤
The sequence of work or operations that are to be 
carried out
➤
The plant, tools or machinery involved
➤
Any chemicals or hazardous substances that may 
be involved or produced
➤
Foreseeable hazards associated with the operation 
(cross-reference to the risk assessments, COSHH 
assessments, manual handling assessments, etc.)
➤
Workplace precautions to be used to minimise the 
risks to all persons who may be affected, for higher 
risk operations a permit to work may be required
➤
Competency or specifi c training requirements of the 
persons undertaking the work or operations
➤
Supervisory management levels
➤
Emergency 
procedures
➤
Monitoring 
arrangements
➤
Revision number and associated documentary con-
trol measures.