Strategies not Policies
Throughout
the corporate and strategic level of the MSC, there is often the tendency to
confuse the creation of asset management policy with the creation of asset
management strategic plans. While there is a level of inter-dependence between
these two areas, they are not one and the same.
A
statement that clearly highlights the values, focus and mission of the organization
in a particular area usually represents policy within these areas, whereas the
objectives created throughout the MSC are usually more quantifiable, more
specific and more prescriptive. Statements also represent them however. Policy
statements are often derived from the strategic planning that is carried out.
For example, a corporate level objective to maintain the risk
of safety incidents can be translated into a range of corporate policy
statements on safety such as-
-
All actions within the organization will be carried out
according to the safety procedures in place for the task.
-
All safety incidents will be analyzed following the Problem
Elimination Logic procedures in place for their future elimination and
mitigation. Alternatively corporate policy statements may be at an even
higher level with such statements as-
“Safety is paramount to our operations.”
While these are more guidance statements than anything of
specific use, they all serve the purpose of policy. They represent the
approach, vision, mission or values of the organization to its operations. They
are not necessarily quantifiable objectives, but are able either to feed into
the MSC process or to be defined from the MSC process.
Copyright 2005, Industrial
Press, Inc., New York, NY