HUMAN PERFORMANCE TOOL SPOTLIGHT: Placekeeping
Which Human Performance Tool is best applied to help you remember where you are in a procedure or checklist whenever your attention is diverted because of the task you are performing? Placekeeping would be the answer. Note that it has a lot of similarities to the Human Performance Tool, "Flagging and Blocking". Placekeeping is sometimes considered part of a more encompassing Tool called, "Procedure Use and Adherence", leaning more toward the usage side.
The basic idea of checking off each step as it is completed probably seems like common sense, especially if there are a lot of steps. We have to be purposeful about all HP Tools. When you build Ikea shelves or furniture that comes unassembled, do you find yourself having to keep figuring out where you are in the "procedure"? If you put a line through each complete step then whenever you put the procedure down, you will know exactly where you are and what has been completed.
The commonly referenced definition of Placekeeping is "physically marking steps in a procedure to prevent the omission or duplication of the steps to maintain an accounting of steps in progress, steps completed, steps not applicable, and steps not yet performed."
Let's examine the main purpose for using placekeeping
When you mark the steps in a procedure or work document that have been completed (or aren't applicable), steps are not accidentally omitted or wrongly repeated.
Brilliant worded from our friends at PGE: "During work activities, workers constantly shift their attention between work instructions, indicators, equipment, data sheets, and attachments. Placekeeping is a tool to help minimize human performance errors as workers progress through lengthy procedure, order (order/operations are work control documents that will be discussed in a later section), or vendor manual instructions. Placekeeping allows workers to keep track of their place in the work document so steps are not inadvertently missed or performed out of sequence. When job delays occur or shift turnovers take place, placekeeping also helps the worker locate the last step performed before the interruption."
How long have we been using placekeeping?
I transferred from being a technician at a nuclear power plant using procedures every day in 2007. We had been using the Circle/Slash version off placekeeping at least since the turn of the century, so for some procedure users, this method is actually the best out there. I really love the timestamp method used at DataCenters for not only saying that a step is completed, but exactly when it was and by whom. This is ultimate accountability, which I appreciate. I have to imagine that we have been using placekeeping ever since the first checklist ever came out, so I'm not sure we can put a date on it. When we go grocery shopping, we sometimes do this, so we know what we have left. A "to do" list inherently begs for you to check items off as you complete them. Perhaps the ancient Egyptians used it for the many steps for mummification or for building pyramids? This is in the same vein of that methodology.
How Circle/Slash works
It works in four phases:
- Circle the procedure step.
- Read the step you are to perform.
- Perform the step
- Slash the circle after you get expected results - If the results aren't expected, stop the procedure.
If this is reminiscent of the Self-checking Human Performance tool, then you have been paying close attention.
- Stop - Circle
- Think - Read
- Act - Perform
- Review - Slash
Circle and Slash methodology forces you self-check each step of the procedure without even think about it.
How Circle/Slash can be dangerous:
When you first start using the tool, the procedure performer may be more distracted with making sure all of the steps are checked at the appropriate time, and focusing on the action of procedure usage, rather than the actual task. This familiarity grows with time and will eventually become second nature, but until it does, it could certainly contribute to a distracting atmosphere, and we recognize this. Since the last thing we want procedure performers to do is become distracted, but we still recognize a large benefit when using this tool, we find middle ground in recommended a check or slash be used in a block or on a procedure step once it is completed.
Other types of placekeeping methods:
- Checkboxes
- Checkmarks
- Single user initial block
- Double user initial blocks
- Timestamp
- Timestamp and initial
Bonus ideas and things to look out for:
There may be times when there are multiple copies in play for the same procedure at the same time. The controlling copy by the lead procedure user is the one that needs to be placekept.
When picking up a procedure and catching up for a different team that was performing it before, make sure to go back a few steps to understand exactly where you are and ensure the conditions make sense to continue. Initial conditions of a procedure must be met every time a procedure gets started or restarted. Many events have been triggered because when a procedure was continued at. later time, the initial conditions were not met at that time.
I've seen too many workers "catch up on their paperwork later" by checking all of the steps off after the evolution, which is not very ethical and provides to value, other than covering up what really happened. The worse I've researched is workers catching up on the procedure placekeeping to the step they were on immediately following an event. I share this to really drive home there is significant value in knowing exactly where you are in a procedure at any precise moment. It's really not a lot to ask a workforce to do, and the benefits far outweigh the minor aggravation of checking a step off.
Some extra relatable links:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did a research study on comparing Computer Based Procedures to Paper-Based Procedures, and there ended up being no significant difference. Its is a very interesting read (if you like this kind of thing)
Good practices with respect to the development and use of nuclear power plant procedures from the International Atomic Energy Agency