Tech

When a task and the responsibilities associated with it are moved to another person or team at work, effective communication is crucial. These situations may occur towards the conclusion of a shift, between employees who work during the day and those who work at night, or during a shift that encompasses numerous organizational domains, such as operations and maintenance.

Information is sent from one leaving employee to another during a shift changeover. The current employee selects the knowledge that must be shared in order for the new employee to operate the facility effectively. This is frequently thought of as a one-way process.

By precisely and reliably conveying task-relevant information across shift changes or across teams, handover aims to assure continuation of safe and effective functioning. A successful handover requires the following three components:

1. Getting ready by departing workers
2. The leaving staff and the new staff exchange hands. exchange information on a task
3. Newcomers verify information when they take over responsibility for a task.

Numerous incidents have occurred as a result of poor communication during shift changeover, the majority of which included planned maintenance work. Due to a failure in communication between shifts, highly radioactive waste liquor was unintentionally released into the sea, which was found in 1983. According to research, a malfunction in information transfer during the digital shift transition contributed to the Piper Alpha accident.

Since inadequate shift handover methods have resulted in terrible accidents, more efficient, reliable, and precise data are urgently needed at this pivotal point in daily operations. The scarcity and difficulty of shift-change technology keep raising business risk and inefficiency.

In order to protect workers on plants, communication between teams is crucial. There is always a possibility that a critical component may be overlooked when one team transfers responsibilities to another. Transparency and openness are essential for a successful transition. Any inconsistency in this statement might be harmful. Accidents may occur as a result of a mistake that may have been easily avoided.

This form of timetable enables people to work in line with a predefined schedule by creating a shift roster before the event. Shift transitions are planned well in advance. It is a fact of life that some tasks have specific completion times, such as urgent repairs or the unloading of massive amounts of raw materials. These tasks can be finished over the course of two or more shifts, and several teams may participate. Major repairs might take weeks or even months to complete.

To achieve consistency and reduce mistakes, a set method is followed for the shift handover app. Based on their operational needs, businesses will design their method. Due to this, we have noticed that these handover processes differ greatly amongst businesses, with some adhering to a highly rigid and defined process and others relying primarily on individuals to properly communicate with the new owner.

Changeover happens 1095 or 730 times a year with an 8 or 12-hour workday, resulting in 730 or 1095 high-risk possibilities for misunderstanding that might result in an incident. The changeover process must be well defined and effectively managed if there is any chance of increasing plant safety.

The authorization to work guarantees that everyone engaged in risky, non-routine jobs on the plant interacts with one another when working in a normal industrial setting.

What should happen to these permits when the next employee takes over the shift, then?

There are two methods to do this:

– The old permission is canceled, and the new shift issues a new one.

– A shift-handover software process is in place on the authorization document itself, ensuring that accountability is transferred from departing to entering workers.

It takes longer, but it assures communication and forces a new perspective on the task. The second method is more effective, but there is a chance that something significant has changed and the accountable parties are unable to thoroughly explore it at the moment of switchover.

The goal of operations management is to increase productivity and guarantee workplace safety.

For this approach to lower the likelihood of accidents, efficient communication is essential. The permit to work system must be linked with the digital shift handover software protocols when teams change, so that tasks may be completed securely.

Keeping these guidelines in mind can help you create a shift changeover strategy that works:

• This has to be recorded in a straightforward, safe, organized logbook—ideally an electronic one.
• Information shared between shifts should convey both the “what” and the “why,” in addition to both.
• Communication between competent individuals who are familiar with the procedure and the job being done should occur between shifts.
• All stakeholders must have easy access to pertinent information, whether it is via mobile devices, displays placed throughout the facility, etc.
• This information should be easily accessible to everyone.
• The handover and the short- and medium-term production objectives should always be connected.
• Any open permits, isolations, etc., should be coordinated and linked. In an ideal world, the data would be stored in a common system or database.
• A direct line of communication between the characters.
• A management system is used to assign, track and communicate tasks during handover or production meetings.
• Support for ongoing training and process auditing.

The goal of operations management is to increase productivity and guarantee workplace safety.