Glossary · Operator documentation
Work instruction
Also known as: WI, Job instruction
German: Arbeitsanweisung
In quality management and operations, a work instruction is a step-by-step instruction for performing one specific activity at a workplace, usually more detailed than a standard operating procedure and maintained as controlled documented information.
- Technical documentation
- Compliance
In one sentence
A work instruction gives the steps for one specific activity at a workplace, usually in more detail than an SOP, as controlled documentation.
Example
The work instruction for torquing the lid bolts of a pressure vessel lists the tool and its calibration, the tightening sequence with a figure, the torque values and the record entry, and points to the SOP for the overall assembly.
How it applies
- Quality management: ISO 9001:2015 does not prescribe a document called "work instruction"; it requires "documented information" that the organization determines necessary. Work instructions are one common way of meeting that need and belong to the quality documentation.
- GxP: The EU GMP Guide names work instructions alongside SOPs and methods and asks that they be written in an imperative, mandatory style.
- Occupational safety: German law uses the word in one specific place: § 14(4) BioStoffV requires work instructions (Arbeitsanweisungen) in addition to the Betriebsanweisung for activities of protection levels 3 and 4 and for certain activities with increased infection risk; they must be available at the workplace.
- Writing: One activity, steps in order, one action per step, figures where position matters, and the record to be made. Structured as a DITA task, the steps, prerequisites and results stay separate when reused.
Work instruction vs. SOP vs. process instruction
A process instruction describes how an organizational process runs across roles; an SOP describes how a recurring operation is performed; a work instruction details the steps of one activity at one workplace. The levels are company conventions, and the same document may carry different names in different companies.