SOP Library and Review Register

Start with an inventory, not a blank template. Procedures live in shared drives, wikis, binders, pinned chat messages and laminated cards by the machine. Collect them all, duplicates and drafts included: two documents describing one job are exactly what you need to find.

Look past the official folder. In guidance for major hazard sites, the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggests employers identify informal procedures, such as the personal "black books" staff often carry¹.

For each document, add a row and record these details exactly as found:

• The title as written, typos included
• Where it lives and its format
• The procedure it describes
• Any ID, revision number, revision date or approval signature

Where a field is missing, write "none" rather than filling it from the file system. Check the page count: a document marked "Page 1 of 7" that stops at page 5 is incomplete. In its 2007 SOP guidance, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that notation on each page, so a reader can quickly check the SOP is complete².

Group the inventory by procedure, not by file: four documents describing the shift close become one register row. Checklists, forms and one-page job aids attach to the procedure that uses them instead of getting rows of their own.

Then name the version in force from the strongest evidence. The EU's good manufacturing practice guidelines for medicines set the bar: instructions should be approved, signed and dated by appropriate, authorized people³ and have a defined effective date.

If two documents compete and the best evidence is a file date or a folder called Final, mark the procedure contested. Name both candidates, the question that settles it and who can answer. Picking the newer file only makes the register look finished.

Archive each losing version rather than deleting it. EPA says outdated versions should be archived so they're no longer used but stay available for historical review². In the US, labs under the FDA's good laboratory practice rules must keep a historical file of their SOPs and all revisions, including the dates⁴.

Your inventory shows what exists, not what's missing. Look for signs of recurring work with no document: repeating calendar entries, handover notes, ticket categories, monthly reports and questions people keep asking. Add each to the register as undocumented.

Put work only one person can do first, then rank by what stops without it: invoices that don't go out, a customer who isn't served, a late filing. HSE lists protecting against loss of operating knowledge when experienced personnel leave¹ as one reason procedures are essential.

Draft the top three first, with the person who does the job. Record them doing it once, then turn the walkthrough transcript into an SOP. EPA suggests having someone other than the writer test each draft² before it's finalized.

Every procedure in force needs one owner: a named person, not a team or a job title. A team can't confirm a review or answer a question, and a title can change hands without anyone noticing the procedure went with it.

Owning a procedure isn't doing the task. It means keeping the document true: confirming it still matches the work, getting it changed when the work changes, answering questions and naming a successor before moving on.

Propose owners from evidence: first the approver named on the document, if they haven't left, then whoever does the work. Ask each person once, listing every procedure you want them to own, and record the date they agree. Someone handed 30 procedures is unlikely to review them all, so spread the load.

Set each procedure's review interval by what changes it. EPA suggests a systematic review every 1 to 2 years², plus an update and re-approval whenever the procedure changes. Go shorter if it depends on software or suppliers that change without notice.

Record which kind of review happened. A read confirms the document still matches the work. A revision changes it, so it needs re-approval and a new revision number. A certification is a dated signature that an outside rule requires.

In the US, OSHA's process safety management standard covers processes involving highly hazardous chemicals at or above threshold quantities. For those, the employer must certify every year that the operating procedures are current and accurate⁵.

Check the document against the work, not against itself. HSE's list of common reasons people don't follow procedures includes the procedure being wrong or out of date, and an easier way to do the task¹. Ask the people who do the job which step they skip and which they add.

Log each change: what changed, why, who approved it and who was told. A typo fix can skip a new revision number; anything that changes what someone does is a revision. Share each revision in a process change announcement that sets the date the old way stops.

When a procedure is no longer performed, withdraw it rather than delete it. Keep its row, stop its review clock and archive the document, so you can still say what the process was last March.

The template at the top of this page covers these steps in five sheets. Open it with Edit with AI, and River reads the procedures you send, fills in the inventory and drafts the register for you to check.