Evalu-8 has been featured in Process & Control Today with an article about what happens when workers start doing a job differently from the way it’s written down.
Published on 9 October 2026, “When the Workaround Becomes the Way the Job Is Done” was written by Josh McNicholas from Evalu-8.
On a factory floor, small shortcuts can gradually become routine. Someone moves equipment to save time, uses a different tool or changes the order of a task. It might seem harmless, especially if the job gets done, but the risk assessment could still describe a process nobody follows.
Josh refers to an HSE prosecution involving a company fined £800,000 after a worker suffered burns while disposing of waste pyrotechnic material. Investigators found that the method in use didn’t have a suitable risk assessment or safe system of work.
The article asks managers to look beyond written procedures and find out how work is actually being carried out. Near misses, maintenance records and conversations with employees can all point to a workaround that’s become normal.
Telling people to follow the rules isn’t much use if the approved method no longer works in practice. Managers need to understand why staff changed it and decide whether the task or instructions need reviewing.
Evalu-8 EHS gives businesses somewhere to manage risk assessments, record inspections and keep track of actions when a problem is found.
A useful question for any manufacturing team is simple: does the procedure on paper match what people do every day?
Read the full article in Process & Control Today: