The safety management provides a vital blueprint for implementing and directing the organization’s resources in order to achieve desired outcomes. The most commonly found goals in any safety and health program include lost-time injury rate, lost workdays, recordable injury rate, and total injury rates. Safety goals can also be vague. Some examples that fall into this category include goals ‘‘to achieve compliance’’ or ‘‘to provide a safe environment’’

Object Required

Objective of safety management is to provide safety control process to avoid risks at the premises. Increased safety management at industries and factories

Principle

Unsafe behavior is normal human behavior, it is the result of normal people reacting to their environment. Management’s job is to change the environment that leads to the unsafe behavior

Theory

There are various definitions of what constitutes a safety management system (SMS). Consistent with the definition of the SMS in the National Standard for the Control of Major Hazard Facilities, the SMS may be described as the comprehensive and integrated system for managing safety at a major hazard facility and which sets out:  

The safety objectives

•  The systems and procedures by which these are to be achieved
•  The performance standards which are to be met
• The means by which adherence to these standards is to be maintained.
• These principles may be applied to any potentially hazardous facility

The safety policy may be defined as a clear and meaningful statement that reflects organisational culture and demonstrates the management leadership, commitment and accountability at the facility and includes the prevention of major accidents. The safety policy communicates the main principles on which actions implementing the organisation’s safety commitment are based.

Planning

 In planning the implementation of the safety management system the following basic information must be established:

• Identification of hazards, assessment of associated risks and implementation of control measures·    
•  Identification of legal and other requirements which apply to the organisation
• Establishment of standards, objectives and targets for management and operational work  
• preparation of a management plan and the a program to achieve the objectives and targets.

The aim of the planning process is to establish the risk profile of the organisation. This will enable the facility to focus its resources on those areas that are most important to the successful achievement of its objectives. The planning process is a continuous one which identifies changes such as new activities, materials and legal requirements

Implementation

The implementation stage puts in place the organisational structure, account-abilities, responsibilities, resources and support mechanisms necessary for effective management of the SMS. The SMS assigns of account-abilities and responsibilities for all employees at the facility, as well as outline associated training, awareness and competence requirements. The implementation stage also establishes processes for internal and external communication, SMS document and data control and the implementation of safety critical operational controls.  

 Measurement and Evaluation

It is important to ensure that arrangements are in place for the measurement and evaluation of a facility’s safety performance. Typical measurement and evaluation techniques include inspections, the active monitoring of premises, plant, equipment, controls, incident reporting and investigation and audits.

Summaries of key findings from measurement and evaluation processes are a valuable source of information for management review.

Management Review

Management with executive responsibility of the facility and the SMS must confirm the continuing suitability and effectiveness of the safety management system. Reviews should be carried out at least annually and should take into account the level of implementation of the safety management system, key results and trends from monitoring and auditing activities and opportunities for improvement from sources such as lessons learned from internal and external incidents 

Conclusion

Safety management system principles: moving beyond compliance does not set a prescriptive path towards a more effective SMS. This is because each organisation and its operational risks are unique. It is important for the organisation to function well as a system and the components that make up this system should be adaptable to the changing context of the wider organisation. One answer is not likely to be right on every occasion, or work well with all other solutions. However, clear principles of risk, change management and configuration control can provide reasoned support to ongoing changes. This document has suggested that, if the SMS is bespoke to the organisation, it will increase its effectiveness and therefore enhance safety culture. The organisation can develop the SMS so it becomes more than the sum of its parts by: 1. Consciously developing the SMS with a clearly defined purpose and scope, as well as an understanding of how it fits into the organisational environment. 2. Creating an organisational environment that can sustain the purpose of the SMS, enabling its employees to put it into action and managers to maintain its effectiveness. 3. Optimising the SMS across the system and continuously learning how to refine/adjust its position within the organisation. the SMS and being willing to work across the systems, functions and departments, organisations can improve SMS integration and use. There will also be a positive impact on business as these activities reduce costs and identify efficiencies. Safety managers, among others, have a key role in moving the SMS forwards so that it offers more than legal compliance but also increased adaptability, suitability, business support and continuous improvement, in all aspects of management. Safety management system principles: moving beyond compliance has provided principles that can underpin this work. Managers are able to draw on the principles that best fit their organisation and the changing environment within which it works.

Published Date

27 Dec, 2017