ABSTRACT
Codes, rules and procedures are, in effect, the instruction manuals of the Safety Management System. The whole purpose of safety codes, rules and procedures is to provide the information on which to build routinely safe behaviour. On this basis, failure to implement the requirements of safety codes, rules and procedures is unquestionably a violation and is often seen as the root cause of an accident/incident and an unequivocal indication that the person who breached the rules is responsible for the ensuing accident/incident. There are four fundamentally important principles which must be considered in the preparation of effective instructions/procedures: functional simplicity; tailoring; use of plain, positive English; piloting. Tailoring is essential to know the audience for whom the instruction/procedure is being prepared. If the audience is not carefully defined a whole series of assumptions may be made which could significantly reduce the effectiveness of the instruction.
