- Document Types

Document Types

There are currently 7 set types of controlled documents in iPassport :

They allow classifying documents in a way that access to them can be controlled through permissions. For example, a user might have permission to only view policies in one OU and only view SOPs in another.
Because they include their own sets of permissions and special structures, they are not customisable.

COSHH Documents

COSHH stands for, ‘Control of Substances Hazardous to Health’ which is a health and safety law in the U.K. This type of document is intended for employers to record and provide evidence that they are protecting their staff from the hazardous substances they might handle. It is designed to be associated with Reagents and it provides areas where hazards and exposure assessments can be logged, as well as a place to upload an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) of the related reagent.

COSHH Document - Special Components

Upon creation, each COSHH document must be linked to an existing reagent. Reagent records can only be associated with one COSHH document so only reagents which don’t already have a COSHH document will be available for selection when creating a document of this type. The ‘Reagent’ field takes the place of the document’s title.

COSHH documents have 3 special tabs - MSDS, Hazards and Exposure.
The material safety data sheet for the associated reagent can be uploaded in the MSDS tab.
The Hazards tab has the following multi-select fields: Hazard Cause, Hazard Nature, Hazard Method, and Disposal Procedure. For each of these fields, a list of options can be created to be displayed and selected by ticking their checkboxes (please see instructions below).
A free text field is also available to enter a Hazard Summary.
The Exposure tab has fields to record exposure related information: Number of People, Exposure Period, Exposure Frequency, Category of Risk, Exposure Limit and First Aid.

Documents

This is the most generic type of controlled document. It can be used for documents which don’t fit any of the other types, like forms, contracts, information files, etc.

Document - Special Components

There are no special components in this type of document; the fields included are listed in the previous article.

External Documents

External Documents cover those which are edited/updated by other organisations, or those which can only be kept in paper form, or which are not allowed to be uploaded to any cloud service. For this reason, they don’t have a field where to upload source files. At best, a copy can be uploaded as an attachment in the Attach tab, a weblink can be added in the Links tab or instructions on where to find the source file can be added in the ‘Introduction and Scope’ field.
External documents can be reviewed to allow checking if they are still valid and if the latest version is still being referenced.

External Document - Special Components

Since these documents haven’t originated internally, an author isn’t required.
External documents can be associated with a company; it has to be created in the Companies area first so the link can be established. The field, Company is a search-as-you-type field which will try to match the entered text with the name of companies registered in the system; once located, the name has to be clicked to select it.
As well as having an Expiry Date, external documents have fields to declare when the document was Placed in Service and/or Withdrawn from Service if applicable.
If the document carries a Reference Number it can be included in the field provided, in addition to the internal index which all document types have.

Health and Safety Documents

The document type ‘Health and Safety’ is very similar to the type, ‘Document’ . The only difference is that health and safety documents have a tab to include Checklists created within iPassport. This provides means to verify if the related safety measure is compliant with a given list of requirements.

Job Descriptions

Documents of the type, ‘Job Description’ are listed and accessible in two places - together with all the other documents in the Controlled Documents area and in the Personnel Management module.
They don’t have a Skilled tab but they can be added to skilled groups if ever required. There is no subject field and the ‘Introduction and Scope’ field is replaced with a ‘Duties’ free text field.

Job Description - Special Components

Job descriptions don’t require an Author nor do they have a field for Sections.
They have special fields for a Job Title Position and Job Title Grades, for which a list of options can be created to pick one out from a dropdown list. These lists can be managed by clicking the spanner/wrench icon next to the fields, which opens a lightbox where items can be added, edited or deleted if not in use (please see instructions below).
The additional field, Reports To has two options - Position or Grade. According to the choice made, the related field to its right will change name between, Reports to Position or Reports to Grade. This field will then allow picking from a dropdown menu one of the job title positions or job title grades already created above.

Policies

The only difference between documents of the type, ‘Policy’ and of the type, ‘Document’ is their name. This allows granting permissions to access policies irrespective of access granted to other types of documents.

SOPs

The document type, SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) has features which allow including risk assessment information, personal protection equipment and/or grades (qualifications) required to perform the procedure safely and, a summarised copy of the procedure for ‘bench’ use.

SOP - Special Components

Three additional tabs are provided for SOPs:

  • Bench - where a summarised copy of the main procedure can be uploaded. When an SOP is revisioned and a new version is published, the owner must take care to update the bench copy accordingly. If the system detects that a bench procedure has been added in previous versions, it will remind the person requesting or performing the authorisation to check that the bench copy is still valid.

  • Risks - this tab allows recording a procedural risk assessment when one is required for the procedure and it’s not included in the source file.
    The matrix builds an overall ‘Risk Assessment’ score based on the product of the following parameters:

    • Biological Hazard x Biological Risk = Biological Assessment
    • Chemical Hazard x Chemical Risk = Chemical Assessment
    • Mechanical Hazard x Mechanical Risk = Mechanical Assessment
    • Physical Hazard x Physical Risk = Physical Assessment

The values for each of the ‘Hazards’ and ‘Risks’ can be managed in the System Preferences area, under Administration > Settings. The final ‘Risk Assessment’ score is reduced to one of the values, ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ or ‘High’.

  • PPE - this tab has multiple-select field for Personal Protection Equipment and one for Grades. For each of these fields, a list of options can be created to be displayed and selected by ticking their checkboxes. As with other customisable lists, they can be managed by clicking the spanner/wrench icon next to the fields, which opens a lightbox where items can be added, edited or deleted if not in use (please see instructions below).

Managing Customisable Fields

Several parameters for some types of documents consist of user customisable lists, as mentioned throughout this article. They are all managed in the same way, except for the risk matrix parameters in SOPs. Given permissions are in place, a spanner will be visible by the field and clicking it will open a lightbox (pop-up window on grey background).

Instructions on how to manage these configurable look-up fields can be found by clicking this LINK.


NEXT STEP:
The next article covers Viewing Draft Documents
PREVIOUS STEP:
The previous article covers Creating Draft Documents