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Operating Discipline & Shift Handover

How to hand over a shift so nothing is lost between crews — the written and verbal handover, plant status and abnormal line-ups, live permits, overrides and inhibits, log-keeping discipline and the fatigue that makes shift change the weakest moment of the day. For operators, technicians, supervisors and anyone who takes or gives control of running plant.

50m
Total time
4
Competency levels
12
Lessons

What you'll learn

  • Explain why incomplete shift handover is a recurring contributor to major process incidents.
  • Describe the principles of an effective handover: written plus verbal, face to face, two-way questioning, protected overlap time.
  • Apply a structured handover checklist covering plant status, abnormal line-ups, live permits, overrides and inhibits, ongoing jobs and standing instructions.
  • Keep contemporaneous, factual operating logs and maintain an accurate override and inhibit register.
  • Recognise how fatigue and time pressure at shift change degrade communication, and apply countermeasures.
  • Assess and improve handover quality across a team, treating operating discipline as a leadership responsibility.

Curriculum

Progress through each competency level in order.

1

Awareness

  • Why Handover Goes Wrong
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Principles of a Good Handover
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Awareness Check: Why Handover Matters
    Assessment
    5m
2

Knowledge

  • What Must Always Be Handed Over
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Logs, Registers and the Written Record
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Knowledge Check: Content and Records
    Assessment
    7m
3

Skill

  • Running the Handover: Sequence and Fatigue
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Assignment: Give and Document a Structured Handover
    Assignment
    3m
  • Skill Check: Doing the Handover
    Assessment
    7m
4

Mastery

  • Operating Discipline as a Leadership Duty
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Assignment: Audit and Improve Handover Quality
    Assignment
    3m
  • Mastery Assessment: Sustaining Operating Discipline
    Assessment
    7m

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