Management of Change (MOC)

What is Management of Change (MOC)?

Change is expected in virtually every organization, irrespective of its size. Management of change (MOC) is a method designed to deal with change in an organization, primarily in fast-paced entities such as industrial facilities. 

The primary objective of MOC is to ensure that workers remain safe from any hazards that may arise during the transitional period. Management of Change is a requirement for certain industries in certain countries, such as the United States.

How you handle the management of change within your business plays a key role on worker health and safety.

Understanding Management of Change (MOC)

Organizational change is expected by almost every company. Often caused by internal decisions, organizational change usually has a reverberating effect, affecting all stakeholders within the company. 

Change is also expected due to both internal or external factors, such as the imposition of government policies, management shakeups, or mergers. As a result of these changes, company processes and procedures are often affected. 

This may expose workers to increased risk of injury, especially if the company doesn’t have a policy in place for dealing with change.

It’s important to understand that management of change is different from change management, which is designed to help organizations embrace change. 

Think of MOC as a series of best practices that companies must follow to mitigate any environmental risks and ensure that workplace hazards remain within acceptable risk parameters. 

Companies must devise and implement a MOC policy, which is required to prevent mitigate risks. MOC policies ensure that companies review any major changes and take steps so that safety levels aren’t affected when new changes are implemented. 

OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard requires companies to implement MOC policies, especially when they know that changes could have a significant effect on general safety within the facility.

This means that companies must ensure that any changes don’t affect employee health and safety, especially due to changes in chemical usage, equipment, or standard operating procedures (SOPs). 

MOC can be used by companies to evaluate how proposed permanent changes may affect an organization in the long run. However, companies must also account for any temporary changes that can be expected. 

Temporary changes in general working conditions can affect workplace safety and have a major impact on productivity and overall employee safety, which is why MOC plays such an important role.

Managing Change Risk with MOC Policies

MOC is designed to mitigate the impact of unexpected ,sudden changes in workflows. Even minor changes in conventional tasks could result in confusion and may cause serious friction in established processes.

Workers might not be familiar with new processes, which could affect productivity, and more importantly, result in a heightened safety risk. This could also affect the environment and may increase the risk of property damage. 

Companies that don’t prioritize the changes caused by different policies may not be able to account for serious events that may increase risk in the organization. 

With the introduction of MOC, company executives and those in charge can actually review the impact of proposed policies and then analyse any potential risks. 

Once they have identified various potential risks caused due to the policy changes, they can propose a plan underlining how the organization can mitigate or completely eliminate those hazards.

Simply put, MOC can be considered a temporary plan to ensure workplace safety for most organizations. 

How to Perform a Management of Change Review

Companies must take a systematic approach when performing the MOC process. There are several steps involved, including:

• Identifying proposed changes
• Analysing the risks or hazards they may create
• Evaluating if those risks or hazards can be mitigated, eliminated, or controlled
• Deciding whether change(s) is possible, and if it should be implemented
• Taking steps to implement changes
• Conducting safety reviews 
• Training workers
• Establishing systems to analyse safety performance

Management of change processes generally vary from one company to another, depending mainly on the processes and standard procedures that employees are expected to follow.

Using Software Programs to Streamline Management of Change

Previously, companies relied on the use of paper systems to conduct MOC reviews and implement new processes. This process was tedious, resource-intensive, and took a great deal of time.

Now, with the advent of workplace safety systems, companies can use dedicated programs to ensure workplace safety and mitigate any new risks that might be caused due to new changes. 

EcoOnline Helps You Improve Workplace Safety 

EcoOnline gives you access to a whole array of workplace safety tools that you can use to ensure that you comply with legal obligations and discharge your EHS responsibilities in the right way. 

It allows you to conduct thorough MOC analyses, record any new risks or hazards, and take steps to ensure that all employees remain safe while the company rides a wave of change.