Business case: Normal Operations Monitoring on the ramp

The problem

Our safety information comes mostly from incidents and audits. Incidents are rare and show the bad days; audits check compliance. Neither shows normal work, or the gap between work as imagined and work as done: the late freight, the missing equipment, the workarounds that keep turnarounds on time, and the good practice we should spread.

The proposal

Run one cycle of Normal Operations Monitoring at [ports]: about [75 to 100] normal turnarounds observed by [number] trained ramp staff over [weeks], using the NOMIC Ramp tool.

What we get

• A picture of the conditions ramp teams work in, from our own operation
• Statistical relationships between those conditions and how the work is done, showing what to fix upstream
• Evidence of what helps turnarounds go well, so we can do more of it
• A comparison with the NOMIC reference data (over 1,300 observed turnarounds)
• Learning Team sessions where planners and ramp staff agree changes, and a second cycle to measure them
• Data for our safety management system (it does not replace it): hazards from normal operations, and a re-measure that shows whether our changes worked

What it costs

• NOMIC Ramp: a self-service audit, or joining the collaborative, with benchmarking (ask NOMIC for a quote for your operation)
• Observer time: about 1½ to 2 hours per turnaround, including tidying the notes and coding, plus about a day of training (the online course is about 7 hours, then 2 or 3 practice observations)
• Checking sessions: 1 to 2 hours a week for 2 or 3 observers during the cycle
• Programme lead: 2 or 3 days to set up, about half a day a week during the cycle, and 2 days for the report and the first Learning Teams

Safeguards

Non-jeopardy and voluntary, agreed in writing with [workforce representatives]. Data is encrypted with our own key. No names or staff numbers are recorded.

Decision needed

Approval to run a first cycle from [date], with [sponsor] as sponsor and [name] as programme lead.