How to Create Effective Work Orders in the Workplace

When it comes to maintenance work and other necessary tasks in a business, work orders are the best way to go about getting something done. The trick is to have the right work order format so that your needs are crystal clear. Just because it seems like a rather monotonous task doesn’t mean it should be treated casually. Just like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to fill out a work order. That’s why we wanted to share some of the best tips for creating effective work orders in the workplace.

Be Clear About the Task

The most obvious part of a work order is being clear about what needs to get done. You don’t want to leave anything to chance or leave any gray area. It also helps to predict potential problems or questions that the maintenance workers performing the task may have. In short, the more information you give on a work order, the more likely the job will get done right the first time.

Identify Who is Requesting the Work and Who Will Do It

A part of being clear about the task is identifying who needs the work done and who is best equipped to perform the work. For the latter part, there may not always be a specific person in mind. However, identifying the skills that will be needed to complete the task can help ensure the work order gets into the right hands. Also, identifying the person requesting the work will make it easier to locate that person in the event that there are follow-up questions or issues. 

Time, Place, and Duration

To be fair, these details aren’t always going to be known or easy to predict when filling out a work order. But again, the more information you can supply, the better. After all, these are pertinent details. You should know where the work order needs to be performed. It might be possible to dictate a good time to perform it and estimate how long it will take. As always, the more specific and detailed you can be, the better the work order.

Is This a Priority?

One overlooked part of filling out a work order is deciding whether the task needs to be prioritized are not. Of course, everyone wants their needs to be filled right away. But not every work order is going to be a top priority or time-sensitive. This makes it important to make an honest assessment about how big of a priority this task is, which will help determine how this stacks up compared to other work orders.

Tools and Equipment Needed

To help facilitate things, it’s good to make a note on a work order of what tools or equipment will be needed to complete the task. If the maintenance workers know this information right off the bat, they won’t be caught unprepared when it’s time to fulfill the work order. In other words, these are small details that can make everything run a little smoother.

Document Every Step

As with other parts of a business, documenting work orders is an important step. This may seem obvious, but don’t forget to share the documentation with all interested parties. Ideally, there should be a log of all past and current work orders, helping to track everything that happens. This will help ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle and no work order gets ignored.

Work Orders and Safety Measures

One of the best ways to effectively use work orders is to perform tasks that can improve workplace safety. Along those same lines, many businesses find success by using workplace safety management software to help track all tasks related to safety. That’s why EHS Insight has a system that puts all of this on one platform, making workplace safety a streamlined process that helps enhance the safety of the workplace.

If you think you can do more to create a safe workplace, let’s discuss how our software can play a role in helping you do just that.