Policy Statement
MILLI Economic Society recognizes that every person has the responsibility and authority to stop work when an unsafe act, unsafe condition, changing circumstance, inadequate control, or unacceptable HSE risk is identified. No production, schedule, commercial or other objective shall justify continuing work where a material and uncontrolled risk to people, assets or the environment exists.
This policy operationalizes the MILLI risk-management principle that work shall not commence or continue where the applicable risk assessment and controls are not in place and supports worker participation in hazard identification and control.
4.1 When Stop Work Shall Be Exercised
- A serious or potentially serious injury or ill-health risk is identified.
- The risk assessment, HIRA, HRA, JSA/TRA or required permit is missing, not understood, no longer valid, or does not reflect actual conditions.
- A critical control is absent, failed, bypassed or cannot be verified.
- Work conditions change in a way that introduces a new hazard or materially increases existing risk.
- A worker or other person is not competent, fit for work or adequately protected for the task.
- Required PPE, tools, equipment, guarding, isolation or other controls are unavailable or defective.
- Weather, heat, visibility, environmental conditions or other external factors make the work unsafe.
- There is an uncontrolled spill, release, fire, loss of containment, electrical hazard, pressure hazard or other emergency condition.
- A worker reasonably believes that continuing the task may result in injury, ill health, environmental harm, asset damage or other unacceptable consequence.
4.2 Stop Work Process
1.STOP – The person identifying the risk shall stop the affected task or request the task to be stopped immediately when reasonably necessary.
2.MAKE SAFE – The immediate area shall be made safe to the extent practicable without creating additional risk. Personnel shall move to a safe position where necessary.
3.NOTIFY – The worker shall notify the supervisor, Site/Project Manager or HSE representative as soon as practicable.
4.ASSESS – The responsible supervisor and HSE function shall assess the hazard, risk, changed conditions and adequacy of controls. Workers shall participate as appropriate.
5.CONTROL – Additional controls shall be selected using the hierarchy of controls and the applicable risk-assessment process.
6.REAUTHORIZE – Work shall resume only after the responsible person confirms that the hazard has been controlled, the applicable risk assessment/permit/JSA has been reviewed or revised where required, and the work team has been briefed.
7.LEARN – Where appropriate, the event shall be recorded as an HSE observation, near miss, incident or nonconformity and lessons learned shall be communicated.
4.3 No Reprisal for Good-Faith Stop Work
MILLI shall not tolerate retaliation against a worker who, in good faith, raises an HSE concern or exercises Stop Work Authority. The MILLI HSE Management System supports worker consultation and participation and protection of workers who report hazards, risks and opportunities.
4.4 Responsibilities
- Director / Top Management: demonstrate visible support for Stop Work Authority and provide resources and authority for safe operations.
- HSE Manager: provide guidance, verify effectiveness of the process, review significant stop-work events and ensure lessons learned are captured.
- Managers / Project / Site Managers: ensure work is planned against approved risk assessments and that stop-work decisions are respected.
- Supervisors / HSE Officers: respond promptly to stop-work notifications, verify controls and authorize restart only when safe conditions are demonstrated.
- Workers: understand hazards and controls, stop or raise concerns when conditions are unsafe, and participate in reassessment and toolbox communication.
- Contractors / Subcontractors: implement equivalent stop-work arrangements and ensure their personnel have authority to stop unsafe work within their scope.
4.5 Documentation and Performance Evaluation
- Stop-work events shall be documented where required by the nature or significance of the event.
- Repeated stop-work events involving the same hazard shall trigger review of risk assessments and operational controls.
- Stop-work data may be trended as a proactive HSE performance indicator; the number of stop-work interventions shall not be used as a reason to discourage legitimate reporting.
- Corrective actions and lessons learned shall be tracked to effective close-out.
- Relevant information shall be communicated to workers and incorporated into risk assessment, training and management review where appropriate.