Regulated organizations in the process and energy sectors must have a management of change (MOC) process to cover process safety related changes to plants, processes, facilities and pipelines. In recent years, regulators have also added the requirement to manage risk arising from organizational changes.
At a high level, organizational changes appear to be just another type of change that can be added to an existing MOC process and procedure. However, when you take a closer look, organizational changes are different in the tools and approaches used across the change life-cycle:
MOC programs will need to accommodate these differences in order to effectively manage risk.
Here are six (6) steps to prepare your organization to manage organizational change safely:
Identify positions and roles in the organization that are safety-critical
Establish a process to trigger an OMOC when these positions or roles are changed
Develop a risk screening tool to assess the level of risk associated with changing these positions or roles
Develop a transition plan to maintain continuity for safety critical roles and positions when these are changed according to the level of risk
Establish a process to monitor changes during each transition and communicate any changes of risk to management
Ensure that all safety-critical positions are roles are fully implemented (transitioned) by following up after the position or role has been changed.
Organizational changes need to be part of every MOC program. An effective MOC program will consider the differences between asset and organizational changes to ensure that risk is effectively managed.
Plan-Do-Check-Act Questions:
What is the current condition of your organizational change process?
Are risk screening and analysis tools in place?
Is there a process to trigger changes to safety-critical positions and roles?
How well is risk communicated to those that needs to manage and mitigate risk?
What step can you take today to advance the effectiveness of managing risk during organizational changes?
