What Is MOC?
Management of Change (MOC) is a technical process federal regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA), Bureau of Safety, Environmental, Enforcement (BSEE) and other regulatory bodies to manage risks involved in process changes involving highly hazardous materials. MOC is also incorporated in voluntary standards such as ISO 9001 and 45001 quality and safety management systems. MOC can be implemented in just about any business process to ensure unintended risks inherent in changes are understood, planned, implemented, and communicated in the organization.
Problems Managing the MOC Process
The MOC process can become ineffective and is often due to basic deficiencies in that can be exacerbated with traditional paper systems, spreadsheets, and manual oversite of the process flow. That is why many organizations are moving to MOC software systems.
Provide easy access to initiate MOC requests
Speed up notification and MOC review processes
Automate and track the approval chain
Track tasks completion and documentation involved in MOC implementation
Provide on-going process work alerts to involved persons
Finalize, authorize “go-live” and alert all involved persons
Facilitate MOC policy auditing and
Produce effective Key Performance Indicators
Solutions Managing the MOC Process
Let's briefly look at how the MOC process is made easier by using intuitive software, rather than spreadsheets and paper systems.
First, let's go over all the information needed when implementing a change. Everyone involved in the change will need to acknowledge that change is needed and then approve the change that is proposed. Then, after everyone is made aware that a specific change will take place, the evaluation of hazards and risks begins. This requires expertise from supervisors and specialists to make sure that no stone goes unturned. It also requires decisions to be made about what controls need to be put in place, the equipment and resources needed, the costs involved, and a final approval for implementation.
Second, as if that wasn't enough already, the actual implementation process requires that everyone perform the required tasks in a specific order to make the change successful. This includes conducting a pre-startup safety review (PSSR), which is a complex process that must be documented. Then everyone needs to get onboard with the change, especially if it involves new procedures or safety measures. The communication requirements for MOC can be daunting but are extremely necessary.
Key Features of MOC Software
A good MOC software system will account for all of these assessments, steps, approvals, tasks, controls, and documentation requirements. Major features to look for in an MOC software solution include:
An easy way to initiate MOC requests
A way to assign responsible parties to an MOC process
A way for responsible parties to approve changes needed
An automatic notification system for alerting responsible parties during each of the MOC stages
A clearly defined description of the change to be made and assessment tools for the change
A way to identify and document hazards and associated controls
A method to keep track of all tasks that need to be performed before the change can take place
A way to assign tasks to persons responsible for implementing the change
A way for supervisors and responsible parties to sign off on changes after implementation
A way to track temporary and emergency change expiry dates
A way to document and record data associated with the change
A way to document, record, and report on MOC stages, assignments, and approval
An effective way to document the verification and closure process for completed MOC records
A way to audit the MOC program and
A way to Produce effective Key Performance Indicators
Safework Suite® is a safety management system designed to sustain your critical risk management business requirements. We offer a suite of integrated tools operating in an on-demand, real-time, cloud-based platform. Watch a demo video of our Management of Change software:
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