Materials > Checklists > WHO Checklist

Developed by the WHO and collaborators at the Harvard School of Public Health, this Checklist identifies key safety steps during perioperative care that should be accomplished during every single operation no matter the setting or type of surgery.  It has been shown to significantly reduce complications and deaths from surgery.

Note: New versions of the Checklist, Implementation Manual, and Guidelines were released in September 2009. 
To view the old checklist, click here.


Translations: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Italian (draft), Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish (draft), 

** If you are interested in using the checklist at your facility, please register here. **


The checklist is not intended to be comprehensive, and additions and modifications to fit local practice are encouraged.  Nonetheless, modification of the checklist should be undertaken with a critical eye.  Click here for checklist modification guidelines.  Examples of modified checklists can be seen here.  If you wish to make your own, we invite you to use this handy Word template.