Operation Manual Writing Guide

1.0 OPERATION MANUAL WRITING GUIDE

1.1. Scope
A treatment plant is usually made up of a series of process steps in order to achieve a
particular treated water or effluent quality standard.
The scope of an operating instruction covers one of the treatment steps and will have a
particular target outcome. The number of operating instructions required for a plant is
dependent upon the complexity of the plant.
For example, a pump station or a chlorination booster system, which consists of a single
process step, would only have a single operating instruction. However, a complex
treatment plant would have multiple process steps.
Each process step may also be referred to as process element.

1.2. Process Overview

A process overview should be provided using the following approach:

Table 1:

Site Diagram Requirements

Site Type

Diagram

Waste Management Facility

Process Flow Diagram

Water Treatment Plant

Process Flow Diagram

Sewer Pump Station

Wastewater System Overview

1.3. General Section

The general section provides a summary of the overall purpose and targets of the plant
and the design criteria and components.
Table 2:

Operation Instruction Sections

General Sections

Content

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

General Sections

Content

Purpose & Targets

A short statement of the purpose and a general description of the

process elements in the treatment sequence.
A general statement of the obligations of GVW to comply with the
requirements specified in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines
and regulations from the Department of Human Services. This is
for WTPs only.
A description of the performance targets of the process. These are
the treatment and reliability objectives of the plant, typically key
performance indicators, license and objective limits, and the
reliability requirements.

Design Criteria and Plant treatment capability.

Components
List and of major plant elements including PLC.
Augmentation History.

1.4.

Standard Operation

Operation instructions are provided for each process element and are divided into
standard sections covering the various operational aspects of the plant. These sections
are described below:
Table 3:

Operation Instruction Sections

Operation Sections

Content

Purpose & Targets

A short statement of the purpose and a general description of the

process element in the treatment train.
Performance targets are to be specified as the good operation
objectives of the process element rather than the whole plant.
These are typically the process element operation settings,
objective limits, and reliability requirements.
The performance targets are often different from the overall plant
targets as the process element is only a step in a process chain to
achieving the plant targets.

Safety

Table of specific hazardous activities, hazard identification, hazard

rating, special training and protective equipment requirements.
Reference the relevant Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and
Risk Assessments (RA). This is to be completed by GVW.

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

Operation Sections

Content

Design Criteria and Table of main components with descriptions of their functions and
Components
design criteria capacities. Complete table as supplied in
Contractor template.
Link to equipment product manual information.
Monitoring

Refer to Bridge-Soft.

Maintenance

Table of regular maintenance tasks for all equipment. Frequency

intervals of maintenance tasks to be included. Complete table as
supplied in Contractor template.

Normal Operation

Normal start-up, operation and shut down procedures for the

process element. CITECT and SCADA controls for operation under
normal operating conditions are to be included.
Reference relevant SOPs. This is to be completed by GVW.

Process Control

Details available process adjustments, its consequence and the

steps required for plant adjustments.

Manual Operation

Details the manual start-up, operation and shut down procedures.

Troubleshooting

Table of potential problems, possible causes and remedial

actions.

Emergency

Emergency responses and notification procedures. These may be

added to by GVW.

2.

Writing Guidelines

2.1. Operating Instruction Template

There is a standard Word template to be used for the creation of O&M Manuals. This is
referred to as the Contractor Template.
When using the template some basic rules are:
- Do not alter the order or function of the template in any way (e.g. delete pages or
spaces, change font sizes).
- Do not include non-standard formatting (e.g. fancy fonts, borders, indents, clip
art), which will have to be removed.
- Do not insert text boxes or Excel tables - use MS Word tables instead.

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

- Do not create complex tables.
- Do not change the column width of the existing tables.

2.2. Template Fonts

Template fonts have been developed to ensure consistency of headings and text fonts
for all manuals. Template fonts are used for the following:
- A_Heading 1 font: process
Sedimentation, Disinfection, etc.).

element

section

headings

(Raw

Water,

- A_Heading 2 font: category headings (Purpose & Targets, Design Criteria &
Components, Monitoring, Maintenance, Normal Operation etc).
- A_Heading 3 font: sub section headings for operations (Start up, Shut down,
etc).
- Normal font: section text. Do not use Normal (Web).
- A_Table Heading font: table headings.
- A_Table Text font: table text.
- A_Figure Heading font: figure headings.

3.

Operation Instruction Basics

The operating instructions are typically written as a single document for the process
element using the template provided. Some basics to remember when writing the
operation instructions are:
- Use marked up digital photos to show where key equipment may be found. A
picture is worth 1000 words.
- Label photos using:
o

Text Box:

Red line boarder (2 point thickness)

White background

Keep as small as possible

Font Franklin Gothic Book

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

Font size 9

Remove spacing above and below paragraph

Arrows:

Red line boarder (2 point thickness)

- Write instructions in concise points or steps. Avoid wordy paragraphs.

- Think of the O&M manual user and what they need to know to operate the plant.
- The scope of the operation instruction is the operation of a single process element
and should concentrate on that plant element ONLY. There is often a temptation
to write about the whole plant.
- Do not repeat instructions written elsewhere. Create hyperlinks in the document
to refer back to information covered previously.

4.

Associated documentation

The supporting documentation to the O&M Manuals may be accessed via the O&M
manuals Homepage. The range of information available from this portal may include:
- Standard Operating Procedures
- Emergency Response Procedures
- MSDS
- Equipment Manuals (including web links)
- Drawings
- Additional Photos
- HACCP Plans

5.

Clear Writing Rules

Outlined below are some common principals for clear and concise writing techniques
that should be followed:
5.1. Basic Writing
- Write for the reader

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

- Be clear
- Be concise
- Be consistent
- Use bullet points where possible
- Avoid unnecessary jargon
- Do not use long words if simple ones will do
- Must have two full stops in e.g. and i.e.
- Use one space after a full stop (not two)

5.2. Numbers
- Spell out numbers from one to nine. E.g. One weeks time or six forms.
- Use numerals for 10 and over. E.g. 50 staff, 200 participants, 60,000 people.
- The exceptions are if the number is connected to the measurement:
o

Use numerals for all mathematical expressions, measurements and

times. E.g. 25%, 31km, 6pm (no spaces).

Never start a sentence with a numeral - spell the number or change the
sentence. E.g. ten people complained.

5.3. Units of measurement

- Units of measurement shall be expressed as symbols, even in running text. E.g.
3km, 24m, 6t, 120l, 50kl (no spaces).
- Make sure you use the standard symbols of the International System of Units (SI
units). E.g. km, ml, Ml, kl, Hz etc.
- These are symbols, NOT abbreviations. Never add s to them. E.g. 2 kgs.
- Numbers in units of measurement are always in numerals, not spelled out.

5.4. Time
- Time is always expressed in numerals, not words. E.g. 1:00 pm, 2:30 am,
3.5 hours.

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Operation Manual Writing Guide

- Use am and pm without full stops.
- Use a non-breaking space (control-shift-space) between the number and am or
pm so they cant be separated.

5.5. Date style

- Use 24 August 1998. I.e. Not 24 August, 1998, August 24 1998, 24th August
1998.
- If a day is required, use Monday 24 August 1998 (no comma).
- If a short form is required, use 24/08/98 (use 0 in single figures).

5.6. Hyphenation
- Do not hyphenate cooperate, coordinate and variations of these words.
- Do hyphenate words where two letters together could lead to misunderstanding or
mispronunciation. E.g. re-use, re-create, co-worker.

Created By: Infrastructure Information Officer

Approved By: Asset Performance Manager
Review Date:

Version: 3
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Last Modified Date: 16 June 2015