What Is a Safety Protocol

Safety protocol, also known as work procedures, are step-by-step safety plans guiding employees through complex workplace processes. Ideally, they prevent accidents and illness by finding ways to avoid or mitigate hazards before an incident occurs.

Employees should always follow safety guidelines and report unsafe conditions. Whether it’s placing something in front of an emergency exit or blocking access to equipment emergency shut-offs, following safe practices protects both the worker and their coworkers.

Identify Hazards and Risks

A hazard is any object, situation or circumstance that poses a risk of harming a worker. Hazard identification is a key step in a lab safety protocol, and there are several ways to accomplish this task.





Start with a thorough onsite inspection and review of equipment, materials and processes that could put workers at risk. This should include reviewing equipment operating manuals, material safety data sheets, results of previous inspections and incidents, and input from front-line workers.

Be sure to identify risks that may have been introduced over time due to changes in workstations, equipment and procedures, maintenance neglect or housekeeping issues. Involving workers in this process demonstrates that safety is everyone's responsibility and provides them with an opportunity to share their ideas and experiences about how risks can be identified and controlled.

Once the list of hazards is complete, evaluate them to determine which are most critical and at high risk. This will help you establish an order for implementing interim control measures and then identifying the most effective techniques for preventing accidents, injuries or illnesses. Eventually, all hazards should be eliminated or reduced to a level that is considered ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable). Be sure to document the hazard assessment and prioritized list. This will help you ensure that all identified hazards are addressed and that no new ones are introduced.

Conduct a Risk Assessment

In order to eliminate, reduce or suitably control any risks associated with a task or activity, a risk assessment must be carried out. A risk assessment is a decision-making tool that helps determine which hazards and risks should be prioritized for permanent control. It can also help you identify the minimum legal requirements for your situation.

When conducting a risk assessment, it is best to work as a team in order to ensure that multiple perspectives are considered and to reduce bias. This could include clinical laboratory personnel, safety professionals, facility engineers and others familiar with the specific lab or testing process being evaluated.

The risk assessment should look at all aspects of the work, including normal operational situations and foreseeable unusual conditions (e.g. maintenance, shutdowns, power outages, emergencies and extreme weather). It should also consider the health and immune status of workers as well as their knowledge and experience with respect to the hazard/risk in question.

Once the risks are identified, they should be ranked according to their severity and likelihood of occurring. Then, steps should be taken to eliminate or control each of these risks using the hierarchy of control methods. Following each step in the process, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the controls and determine if any additional measures are required.

Develop Safe Operating Parameters

Safety protocols seem simple, but they accomplish a difficult task – guiding workers through complicated work procedures safely. As such, they deserve special care and attention from your EHS team to create and implement.

The first step when creating a safety protocol is to identify all potential hazards that can be associated with the task at hand. Next, the safety team can use the information from their risk assessment to develop safe operating parameters that will help workers perform the procedure without exposing themselves to those hazards.

It’s important to take into account the various groups of people who could be harmed by a particular procedure, including new or expectant mothers, children, migrant workers, temporary workers, people with disabilities, and members of the public. This will help the company to determine whether additional precautions are necessary, such as ensuring that visitors and contractors wear proper personal protective equipment.

Once the safe operating parameters have been established, the safety team can write up a procedure based on that information. This procedure will include steps for workers to follow, the hazards associated with each step, and ways to avoid or mitigate those hazards. The safety team should also test the procedure by observing a worker following it to ensure that it is effective. Finally, the safety team should make it clear to employees that they must always adhere to the written workplace safety protocols, and that ignoring them will not be tolerated.

Create Written Procedures

The information gathered in the hazard and risk assessment is used to create a safety protocol, also known as a standard operating procedure (SOP). It outlines the specific steps needed to perform the work safely. The SOP document should be clearly understood and consistently implemented. This ensures that all employees understand the precautions and techniques necessary for safe work.

When creating a written safety protocol, the first step is to identify your goal and purpose for writing it. Then, you must decide who will use the procedure and what format is best for it. You may be writing for a group of employees within a company, managers, union representatives or federal regulators. Knowing who you are writing for will help you craft a document tailored to that audience, according to Workforce Safety and Insurance.

Once you have your purpose and audience in mind, begin to write the SOP. lone worker device Make sure the introduction, procedure steps and summary all match. You should be as detailed and clear as possible to avoid confusion, property damage or injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggests using an outline to help organize your thoughts.

Once the SOP is complete, consider if you need to include any additional information like diagrams or illustrations. It is important to note that these additions should not replace or take the place of actual instructions. Make sure the written documentation is easy to read. Large blocks of text are not skimmable and can be difficult to understand. Write the SOP in a checklist format to help make it more digestible and easier for employees to memorize.