Safety Management Systems

Safety Management Systems

In response to competitive pressures, leadership in most organizations has transformed itself by driving improved results through evolutionary business philosophies of employee involvement, initiative and streamlining. These organizations are being reorganized to facilitate structures that efficiently incorporate all aspects of operations—production, quality and safety performance—into a cohesive and profitable process managed jointly by all organizational levels.

Safety management has followed suit. It has evolved from its technical roots to incorporate the qualities that characterize these transformed organizations. Although safety professionals continue to collect statistical data and re-engineer the workplace, modern safety management clearly involves the management of people and their behavior, and recognizes the value of cross-level teamwork to improve business systems.

Safety Management Systems Position/Policy

The National Safety Council has an increasing body of evidence supporting the finding that comprehensive safety management systems are effective in reducing the risk of workplace incidents, injuries and fatalities. The National Safety Council encourages all companies to adopt a safety management system, and to measure results against defined criteria, demonstrate sustained management commitment and involvement in safety, and to engage workers and employee representatives (where applicable) to participate in the process. 

A comprehensive safety management system can be defined as:  a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process for managing safety risks that provides for goal setting, planning and measurement of performance. Effective safety management systems are woven into the fabric of an organization, becoming part of the culture, the way that people do their jobs. Successful safety management systems share certain attributes which include leadership from management and employee representatives to assure that necessary resources are available, technical and operational elements to assure there is ongoing reduction of risk, and cultural and behavioral considerations to maximize improvement by engaging the workforce and fostering collaborative efforts for all to contribute. 

The National Safety Council model safety management system includes the following nine elements organized into three key performance areas. 

Leadership – Management

• Management leadership and commitment
• System management and communications
• Assessments, audits and performance measurements

Technical – Operational

• Hazard identification and risk reduction
• Workplace design and engineering
• Operational processes and procedures

 Cultural – Behavioral

• Worker and management involvement
• Motivation, behavior and attitudes
• Training and orientation

Measurement Systems

A safety management system is an organized and structured means of ensuring that an organization (or a defined part of it) is capable of achieving and maintaining high standards of safety performance. A comprehensive safety and health system should be proactive and preventive. It should be an integrated system that involves everyone in the company, starting with a solid commitment from top management. It should include a formal method of measuring and evaluating individual and organizational safety performance with an emphasis on improving safety performance within the system.

While no single, one-size-fits-all approach to safety excellence exists, there are four essential characteristics that have been proven to effectively implement, enhance and support widely varying processes in diverse occupational settings. To successfully guide a safety management system, organizational management must implement these essential characteristics: leadership, employee involvement, measurement systems and continuous improvement.

Leading Indicators and Benchmarking

A safety management system’s effectiveness is often measured solely on the basis of its failures. Multiple points of measurement, both qualitative and quantitative, must be combined into a systematic approach that accurately assesses the effectiveness of the safety management system and discovers the root causes of deficiencies. Actual measures, whether proactive, reactive, trailing or leading, need to follow the four basic principle of good measurement: validity, reliability, practicality and utility. For an example of an effective leading indicator, see employee perception surveys. These surveys benchmark user results against a database of other survey users, generating percentile scores.

Continuous Improvement through Measurement & Benchmarking

The Safety Excellence Model shown below is a framework for applying a safety management system on a continuous basis. It is a process-oriented approach that emphasizes people's contributions to long-range, permanent solutions for problems. The core requirements for safety excellence are leadership and engagement, safety systems, risk reduction and performance measurement. The benefits of applying this model include alignment of actions with business objectives, more focused effort, and reduced injuries and illness.  Together these steps provide the tools for the Journey to Safety Excellence.