Plan, Do, Check, Act: Management Systems in Environmental
Health & Safety

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Plan, Do, Check, Act

As simple as it may sound, a simple framework can be applied to the implementation of a management system. The basic principles of any management system is what’s called “Plan, Do, Check, Act.”

If you take ISO 45001 as your starting point, what would a plan, do, check, act system look like?

You start with PLAN. You start analyzing your hazard assessments, your regulatory obligations, your goals and objectives, and make sure that you get your plan firmly put in place.

Then you DO.

Your plan is in place, now you have to focus on the things that you have to do. What do you need to do in order to meet those certain regulations or requirements that you identified in the PLAN phase? You plan what you need to do, then you develop the tools to do it.

Next is CHECK.

This might seem simple, but all the best plans in the world are useless if they’re not actually working. So you check to make sure you’re on track. Whether it’s internal inspections, monitoring, or reporting, it’s making sure that your plans are working the way they should.

Finally, you ACT.

If after all of the planning, doing, and checking, you find that things aren’t working the way they should, you act to fix it. What went wrong and how can you prevent it from going wrong in the future?

“Exercising that “plan, do, check, act” system will really help you make sure that you’re focusing on what you need to focus on, and that you’re always looking for those opportunities for improvement.”