Writing S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Recommendations

I'm a big fan of testing the quality of your recommendations before submitting your investigation report. A simple way of doing this is to ask yourself if the recommendations are smart.

Specific.   What exactly are you trying to fix? Rather than say "clean up the air in the truck shop" consider using "reduce the carbon monoxide levels in the truck shop to one-half the permissible limit by June 30 2009." Which one will be a better statement to measure the success of your efforts?

Measurable.   You can't afford to wait and see if the incident does or does not happen again. It's a little late to go back to the drawing board after a second person is hurt. Incorporate recommendations into your monthly inspections. Do the same factors that caused the original incident still exist? If so, it's only a matter of time before history repeats itself.

Accountable.   Put a name and date to the action item. Make someone personally accountable. This person could also manage the communications aspect in keeping the workplace informed on progress and completion.

Reasonable.  Consider the bean counters. Is there a less expensive way of fixing the problem that's almost as effective? If so, do you homework and present management with a couple of options. Presenting only one recommendation opens the door to second guessing your recommendations. Presenting two leaves less wiggle room and shows you've thought the options through.

Timely.   What must be done now and what can wait a while? In situations where a number of recommendations are called for you need to break them down into bite size chunks. Dumping a half dozen recommendations on a department or person will almost certainly guarantee failure. Breaking the job down and assigning a reasonable time period for completion helps make the recommendations a little more manageable and therefore likely to be accepted and completed.

Effective.   Is your corrective action actually going to make a difference?  Or are you just trying to fill in a blank on a form.  Use your organization's Risk Assessment Matrix and consider the incident circumstances pre and post incident with all your recommendations in place.  Ideally an effective recommendation should be reducing both the severity and frequency of a future incident.

Reviewed.  Consider having an independent person/body review all recommendations for any unintended negative consequences on other areas of the organization.  Most importantly at three, six and even nine month periods check and see if the recommendation is still in place and doing what you had hoped it would.  Too many good intentions tend to drift out of site and use, and we are setting ourselves up for a repeat incident.

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