WHEN A SWP
ISN'T REALLY
A SWP.

You can tell a fake SWP by how it reads. It is long. It is written in the voice of a binder. It tells you to 'ensure all applicable regulations are followed' and then never says who does what when the load is on the hook.

A real SWP is a sequence. Plan. Inspect. Connect. Clear. Test. Lift. Someone can follow it with gloves on. Someone can argue with a step because the step is specific enough to be wrong.

If a procedure cannot be followed on a jobsite, it is not a procedure. It is theatre.

SIGNS YOU ARE LOOKING AT THEATRE

• It could apply to any trade in any province with the names swapped.
• The only verb is 'ensure.'
• There is no order of operations.
• Nobody on the crew has ever opened it except at orientation.
• It lives in a portal. The lift lives in the dirt.

WHAT WE WRITE INSTEAD

GOSPEL procedures are public and short enough to use. A site-specific job procedure still has to be written for this lift, this day. The SWP is the method. The SJP is the instance. If the instance contradicts the method, stop and fix one of them before the hook moves.

If your SWP cannot survive a rigger reading it out loud, rewrite it. Do not add a cover page.

04 — SAFE WORK PROCEDURES →