Observation - std55050046

DOE-EM-STD-5505-96

Has management provided guidance about their expectations?

Are workers properly trained?

There are two complementary approaches to assessing OPS O&A. The first is a top-down

approach that emphasizes interviews with each level of management to determine their

expectations and how they monitor operations performance throughout the organization, down to

the operating level. The second approach emphasizes observing and interviewing operators to

determine their level of knowledge and then moving up the organization to determine

management expectations. Assessors should decide whether to use one or a combination of these

approaches based on the activity being assessed and their particular assessment experience and

style.

The nature of this area of conduct of operations necessitates the assessor's use of interviews.

However, assessors must actually go out and verify that activity performance matches

management guidance.

6.1.3 Observation. Observation can be an important tool in determining how effectively

management has communicated its policies to workers and how well workers execute

management expectations. There are numerous observations an assessor can make to determine if

policies are being communicated and implemented. Specific examples of activities that an

assessor might observe include:

Activity walkthroughs

Activity management conducting scheduled walkthroughs

Pre-job briefings

Postings of management safety policies and goals

Graphs and charts of operations output and performance

Postings of safety goals and actual worker performance