Chapter 4. Checklist Reviews
4.1. Checklist Reviews
4.2. Objectives
4.3. Effective Checklists
4.4. Supporting Documentation
4.5. Types of Checklists
4.6. Advantages and Disadvantages
4.7. Typical Questions from a Safety Checklist
4.1. Checklist Reviews
List of Questions About
Plant Organization
Operation
Maintenance
Other Areas of Concern
Checklist reviews are one of the simplest way to identify hazards. Checklists typically comprise a list of questions about plant organization, operation, maintenance, and other areas of concern. These questions are often used to ensure compliance with regulations and engineering standards.
4.2. Objectives
Checklists are a means to verify that requirements are not overlooked. An audit checklist is used after an activity is completed. Checklists are primarily based on the organization’s prior experience. They can be based on codes and standards. A checklist that verifies design completion would include electrical, controls, mechanical, structural evaluations and process evaluations associated with explosive limits, reactivity thresholds and flammability, among others.
4.3. Effective Checklists
Objective
Frequency of Implementation
Number of Personnel Required
Qualification Requirement of Personnel
An effective checklist will include all pertinent areas of expertise. It should include a summary statement of objectives and specify securing the services of personnel from all of these areas needed for the evaluation.
In addition, the checklist must exhibit a level of detail that reflects the level of complexity of the process being evaluated. To retain the competency of the checklist for future use, the checklist should be evaluated periodically. The checklist must be updated after any modification is made to the process or during any major outage.
4.4. Supporting Documentation
An effective checklist requires supporting documentation as shown here. Operating procedures would include those for startup, shut-down, inspection and maintenance. Also, piping and instrument diagrams and process flow diagrams are required along with similar information as shown here.
4.5. Types of Checklists
Test equipment performance
Ensure facility is operated according to procedures
Verify equipment status prior to removal for maintenance
Cross- reference maintenance procedure checklist
Two types of checklists are shown here. Some others include maintenance, inspection and safety.
Operation checklists are typically used to test equipment performance and ensure the facility is operated according to procedures.
Stand-by or shutdown checklists are used to verify equipment status prior to removal for maintenance or to cross- reference maintenance procedure checklist.
4.6. Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
Does not require advanced training
Disadvantages
Focuses on one item at a time
Does not recognize future sources of concern
Effectiveness is only as good as the prior experience of person preparing the list
One major advantage of checklists is that once they are developed, relatively untrained workers can use them effectively.
Unfortunately, there are a few disadvantages associated with checklists. Checklists are limited in that they can only focus on one item at a time. Consequently, it cannot be used for interaction among processes. In addition, checklists do not leave any room for identifying future problem areas. It focuses only on the immediate attribute.
Finally, the success and effectiveness of a checklist relies on the experience of the preparer. It is imperative that checklists be prepared only by experienced workers who have the ability to recognize current critical items as well as future areas of concern early in the developmental stages of the checklist. These areas will be addressed by the checklist from the beginning.
4.7. Typical Questions from a Safety Checklist
1. Are procedures available and used when isolating equipment for maintenance?
2. Is Safety Department responsible for work order signature, or is this done by operations or maintenance personnel?
3. Are blind lists made for each isolation job, who keeps them, and who checks that all are installed or removed?
4. Is safety and life-saving equipment inspected on a regular basis, and who is responsible for this work?
5. Are operators and maintenance personnel instructed and trained in firefighting and first-aid procedures?
6. Are plant personnel trained to respond to major emergency situations?
This slide provides an example of some of the pertinent questions from an effective checklist for safety. The types of questions included in checklists depend on the type of procedure targeted. Additional checklist questions are given by Greenberg and Cramer for other types of checklists.