Overview of Management of Change (MOC)
Management of Change (MOC) is a best practice used to ensure that safety, health, and environmental risks and hazards are properly controlled when an organization makes changes to their facilities, operations, or personnel. Having a properly implemented MOC policy in place when implementing changes can help ensure that new hazards aren’t introduced and the risk levels of existing hazards aren't being increased. Inadequate MOC on the other hand has the potential to increase risks to the health and safety of employees and the environment.
Effective MOC involves review of all significant changes to ensure that an acceptable level of safety will be maintained after the change has been implemented. From this evaluation, the proposed change can either be set for implementation, amended to make it more safe, or rejected entirely. Should the change be implemented, personnel should be informed about the change and how to maintain a safe workspace in this new environment.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA's) Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, performing MOC is required when making changes that could affect the safety of a facility. This can include changes in process chemicals, technology, equipment, procedures, and the number of employees involved in a process.
While MOC is generally used to examine the effects of a proposed permanent change to a facility, temporary changes should not be overlooked. A number of catastrophic events have occurred over the years due to temporary changes in operating conditions, staffing, etc. For this reason, an effective MOC program should address all changes that could affect the safety of a facility or personnel, regardless of whether or not it is permanent.
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