Safety and legal steps: why they need an official source

A procedure about safety or the law is only as good as its source. An AI draft isn't a source. It's a guess in tidy sentences.

Why these steps are different

• The rules depend on where you are. A rule in one country, state or industry may not apply in another.
• A wrong step can hurt someone. Or cost you a fine, a claim or a licence.
• The tool can be wrong without sounding wrong. Its maker lists incorrect facts and fabricated references among the things it may produce.¹
• You can't see what it left out. A missing safety step looks the same as a page that is complete.

Where the rules come from

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive says employers are required by law to protect employees and others from harm.² At a minimum that includes identifying what could cause injury or illness in the business, which it calls hazards.²

In Australia, work health and safety laws are regulated and enforced by the Commonwealth, states and territories.³ Safe Work Australia publishes model codes of practice, and tells readers to check with their local regulator about whether a code has legal effect where they are.³

In the United States and elsewhere, look for the national or state workplace safety agency's own site.

Other countries have their own regulators. Search for "[your country] work health and safety regulator".

For tax, privacy, employment and food rules, the same idea applies. Use the official body's page, or an accountant, lawyer or other qualified adviser.

How to write a safety step properly

• Find the official page first. The regulator's guide, the manual from the equipment's maker, or your local authority.
• Write the step from that page. Use your own words only if the meaning stays the same. Keep every condition and warning.
• Name the source on the procedure. "From the maker's manual for our oven, page reference noted" lets the next reviewer check it.
• Tell staff to follow the manual for their own model of equipment. A general procedure can't cover every make.
• Keep the hazards. A safe work procedure generally lists the hazards involved in a task.⁴ A draft that drops them is incomplete.
• Have a competent person sign off. That means someone who knows the task and the rules, not just whoever wrote the draft.

What an AI tool can still do

• Tidy wording after you've written the step from the official page.
• Turn the official steps into a checklist layout.
• Suggest questions to ask the regulator, a supplier or an adviser.
• Point out where your own procedure is vague.

It shouldn't be where the step comes from. The advice from one maker is to always verify quotes, data and technical information.¹

Keep the page current

Safe work procedures are meant to be improved as conditions or equipment change.⁴ Rules change too. Put the source's name and the date you read it on the page, and set a review date.

Hiring and HR steps

Procedures about hiring, rostering and discipline need the same care. Use your country's official employment body, such as Fair Work in Australia or the EEOC in the United States. A person should make every hiring or firing decision, not a tool.

The draft-checking routine covers the rest of the review.