MOC- Lessons Learned

The following lessons have been learned in industry when setting up MOC programs:

• Don’t focus solely on equipment modifications – other changes are equally relevant to MOC procedures (eg. changes in operating procedures, staffing levels, and maintenance procedures).
• Don’t have unnecessarily tight equipment specifications – will cause MOC to be used much more often then would have been necessarily had more thought gone into the original operating procedures and mechanical specifications. eg. using only catalog replacements instead of having functional descriptions of spare parts. 
• Applies to all process units, not just those containing flammable or toxic substances – when dealing with hazardous materials, MOC should apply to indirect systems (eg. utility boilers)
• Make sure there is easy access to documentation – the correct information must be available to the team conducting the safety review.