Top Questions to Ask When Hiring a Procedure Development Consultant

How do you choose a procedure development consultant?

The wrong procedure consultant produces documents that satisfy a checklist and fail in the field. The right one produces procedures your people actually use, transfers real capability to your team, and leaves your program stronger than they found it. The difference is worth being deliberate about, and the questions you ask during evaluation are how you tell them apart.

There's a useful lens for these questions. INPO 14-005, Principles for Excellence in Nuclear Supplier Performance (October 2014), lays out the attributes a high-reliability industry expects from the suppliers it depends on. The document is written for nuclear, but its principles describe what "good" looks like in any high-consequence sector, including oil and gas, DOE, and chemical operations. Those principles include safety culture, quality and configuration control, human performance, training and qualification, continuous improvement, use of operating experience, and disciplined procurement and contracting. The questions below are organized around them, with what a good answer sounds like. If you work in nuclear specifically, pair this list with our guide to how nuclear utilities evaluate procedure development vendors.

1. Does the firm demonstrate a healthy safety culture across its own operations?

INPO 14-005 names nuclear safety culture as its first principle. A consulting firm operating in high-risk environments should be able to explain how safety culture shows up in its own work: how issues are surfaced, how differing professional opinions are handled, and how leaders reinforce safety over competing pressures. Firms that treat their own culture as an afterthought tend to produce procedures that treat the client's culture as an afterthought.

A good answer describes concrete practices, not slogans. Ask, for instance, how the firm handles a disagreement about a critical step.

2. How does the firm handle quality assurance and configuration control on its own deliverables?

The second principle is materials, quality, and configuration control. For a procedure consultant, the deliverable is the configured item. Ask how they version-control drafts, how they ensure the procedure you receive is the reviewed and approved one, and how they prevent an old draft from reaching the field.

A good answer describes a controlled process, not "we email you the latest Word doc."

3. What does the firm's approach to human performance look like?

Look past the procedures they write to their own work practices. A consultant who understands human performance can talk specifically about error trap categories, critical step identification, place-keeping conventions, warning placement, level-of-detail decisions, and how those apply to the work you're doing.

A good answer sounds like a working practitioner discussing craft, not a marketing description.

4. Are the firm's writers trained and qualified, and do they hold PPA Writer Certification?

Training and qualification is a core INPO 14-005 principle. In procedure writing, the recognized credential is the Procedure Professionals Association (PPA) Writer Certification. PPA's authority in the field is reinforced by federal cross-reference: DOE Order 422.1 (Conduct of Operations) references PPA AP-907-005 by name. A firm whose writers hold the PPA Writer Certification has demonstrated the underlying competency at an individual level, not just at the pitch-deck level. For more on what that preparation involves, see what training procedure writers need.

A good answer confirms certification status and speaks fluently about what the certification tests and why it matters.

5. How does the firm pursue continuous improvement, and how does knowledge transfer work?

Continuous improvement is a named principle, and for a consultant it shows up most concretely in knowledge transfer. The best consultants make themselves progressively less necessary. They build your team's capability, not just your document library. Ask specifically what training, coaching, or mentoring is included, and how the consultant plans to leave your program stronger than they found it.

A good answer describes a defined knowledge-transfer approach, not "we're happy to answer questions during the project."

6. How does the firm use operating experience?

Using operating experience is a principle because the highest-reliability organizations learn from events, their own and the industry's, rather than relearning the same lessons. A strong consultant folds lessons from incidents and near-misses into the procedures and training they produce.

A good answer gives examples of how a past lesson changed how they write or review a procedure.

7. How do you measure whether your work is successful?

A consultant confident in the value of their work has clear success measures beyond "we delivered the deliverables." Look for measures tied to procedure quality, such as human factoring consistency and use-as-written compliance, and to program health, such as self-assessment findings closed and writer capability increased. Document count alone is not a success measure.

A good answer names specific measures and describes how they're tracked.

8. Who specifically will be doing the work?

Disciplined procurement and contracting, another INPO 14-005 principle, includes knowing who actually shows up. Especially at larger firms, the people in the sales meeting aren't always the people doing the work. Ask who is assigned to your engagement, what their experience is, and whether the senior expertise you're being sold will actually touch your project.

A good answer names people, describes their experience, and commits to their involvement.

Red flags to watch for

• Vague industry claims. "We work across high-risk industries" without specifics.
• No certified writers. Or a dismissive answer about why the PPA Writer Certification doesn't matter.
• Marketing-heavy human factoring language without working-practitioner depth.
• No knowledge transfer plan beyond "we'll be available for questions."
• Deliverable-count success measures without quality measures.
• Bait-and-switch staffing. Senior people sell, junior people deliver.

The bottom line

Choosing a procedure development consultant is a decision that affects your operation for years. The procedures they write get used every shift, the writers they train stay on your team, and the program they help you build sets the pattern for how you approach the work going forward. Evaluating a firm against the same principles a high-reliability industry uses to judge its suppliers takes an hour to work through and can save years of correction.

 At Procedure Solutions Management, we welcome every one of these questions. Our writers work to the PPA standard, and human performance is built into every procedure we write. We support your team through handoff, and because the people who wrote your procedures can also train your staff, you can pair a procedure project with our PPA Writer Certification Training Course so your own writers learn how and why each procedure was written. See how our procedure development services fit your program, or start a conversation with our team. 

Quick FAQ

What should you ask a procedure development consultant before hiring them? Ask about their own safety culture, their quality and configuration control practices, their approach to human performance, their writers' qualifications and PPA Writer Certification, how they handle knowledge transfer and continuous improvement, how they use operating experience, how they measure success, and who specifically will do the work. These questions map to the principles high-reliability industries use to evaluate suppliers (INPO 14-005).

Does it matter if a procedure consultant's writers hold PPA Writer Certification? Yes. The Procedure Professionals Association Writer Certification is the recognized competency credential for procedure writers in high-risk industries, and PPA AP-907-005 is referenced by name in DOE Order 422.1. Writers who hold the certification have demonstrated individual-level competency, not just organizational marketing.

What are the biggest red flags when evaluating a procedure consultant? Vague industry claims, no certified writers, marketing-heavy language about human factoring without working depth, no knowledge transfer plan, deliverable-count success measures without quality measures, and bait-and-switch staffing where senior people sell but junior people deliver.