Management of

Change
Reported on January 20, 2018
MA.Ed/MBA/Ph.D Session
Gloria Downtown Hotel
Abu Dhabi, UAE
What is Management of Change?
 Management of Change, or MOC, is a best
practice used to ensure that safety,
health, & environmental risks are
controlled when a company makes
changes in their facilities, documentation,
personnel, or operations.
Why the need for MOC?
 There are many notable examples of how
even simple changes at a worksite have led
to tragedy and these are results of
decisions and changes made rapidly &
abruptly.
When is MOC used?
 Generally, a business need or opportunity
becomes a project or business solution and,
therefore, requires changes in the workplace
that can affect processes, systems, people, or
organizational structure.

 We need to think deeply about whether the

implementation of any change improves the
company’s safety program and makes good
business sense.
What are the benefits of MOC?

 Oneobvious benefit MOC gives is avoiding the

consequences of unforeseen safety and health
hazards through planning and coordinating the
implementation of change in the facility or
company.
What are the other benefits of MOC?
 It minimizes unplanned adverse impacts on
system integrity, security, stability, and
reliability for the business process being
altered or added.

 Itmaximizes the productivity and efficiency of

staff planning, coordinating, and implementing
the changes.
 It provides a stable production environment.
…benefits of MOC? (continued)

 It ensures the proper level of technical

completeness, accuracy of modifications, and
testing of systems before implementation.
 It provides an appropriate level of
management approval and involvement.
 11 Elements of an
Effective Management
of Change Program
By Sam McNair, P.E., CMRP
1. Identify and Quantify Change
 Ifyou cannot clearly communicate what it is
you wish to be done, how can a team properly
evaluate it, and how can you assure that what
you intend to do will in fact be implemented
properly?

 At this point in the process the change has to

be well enough defined that you can make a
good decision in subsequent steps.
2. Evaluate Risk and Reward
 The most important step in an established
MOC process is asking the simple question:
Should I be doing this at all? What concrete
business objectives am I satisfying with this
change?

 If there is not a clear reward that can be

stated in terms of accepted business goals,
why are you using the resources and why are
you taking the risks?
3. Select the MOC evaluation team
 There is no change that is entirely risk-free.
Quite often the person who is proposing the
change is the last person to be wholly
objective in evaluating the risk.

 The evaluation of risk is where an MOC team

is required. Use as a minimum the “three
person rule” for assessing the risk of a
proposed change.
Criteria for selecting someone to be part of the team:
a. Each member must represent a different discipline
(operations, maintenance, engineering, or other
disciplines as needed). What is needed is a balanced team
that has the ability to look at the proposed change from
many different viewpoints so that there is a complete
picture of it. The best organizations develop a matrix of
the required makeup of teams based on the nature of the
proposed change.

b. The team members must be knowledgeable enough to

about the proposed change and its implications to be able
to make an objective evaluation of possible consequences.
Remember that this stage is all about knowledge not
approval authority. A team that is all technical people or
all shop floor people is rarely a well-balanced team.
Criteria… (continued)
c. Team members must have credibility with their peers
and with leadership. They must be willing to speak up
about their concerns. Conversely a team member who
dominates the situation and does not allow other team
members to express their concern is ill-advised.
Evaluating risk is very much a brainstorming exercise and
the same rules apply.

Once all of the potential risks are identified, then this is

the first point where a “conditional go” or a “no go”
decision can be made. There are tools for performing
risk-reward analysis. Choose the one that is right for
your business and the circumstances. But having chosen
the tool, never fail to be consistent in its use.
4. Develop Risk Mitigation Actions
 Some of the risks that will be identified are
acceptable and require no special attention
other than awareness and proper
dissemination of information.

 Howeverother risks are unacceptable and

must be addressed, either prior to
implementation or after implementation.
Risk-Mitigation… (continued)
 Regardless of when these mitigation actions
need to be taken, once they are identified as
requirements for keeping the risk to an
acceptable level, they must be completed at
the appointed time.
 The use of checklists is most helpful in this
phase of the MOC process as they can readily
help the team identify possible appropriate
mitigation activities. Potential touch points
are training, drawings, documents, HSE
evaluations, operating & maintenance
procedures, inspection programs, & QA.