What are the Components of a Safety Management System (SMS)?
Safety Management Systems have structure (organization) and are composed of inputs, processes, and outputs.
- Inputs include employees, funding, facilities, physical/psychosocial resources, etc.
- Processes are developed and deployed to ensure effective planning, management, involvement, accountability, education and training, and hazard identification, analysis, evaluation, and improvement.
- Outputs include internal thoughts and decisions, and external behaviors, conditions, events, and results
Leading indicators that measure outputs include employee thoughts, decisions, behaviors, conditions, and near-miss events. Trailing indicators generally measure injury/illness events, rates, costs, etc.
If SMS behavior is efficient (no wasted effort) and effective (results in desired outcomes) the SMS has been designed well and it's condition is healthful.
The "6-Ps" of a Safety Management System
1. Safety Programs
OSHA considers a safety and health program to be a "comprehensive, employer-provided, site-specific system to protect worker safety and health." Each program is actually a subsystem within the overall SMS.
2. Safety Plans
A safety plan is a written statement of how goals and objectives, as stated in the mission/vision statements, are going to be accomplished. Written plans in general describe the strategies and tactics that will be employed. There are three categories of planning:
- Strategic planning addresses long-term goals and objectives.
- Operational planning addresses short-term goals and objectives.
- Contingency planning addresses anticipated, but unwanted changes.
- Production plans - Strategies and tactics to meet production goals and objectives.
- Method improvement plans - Procedural strategies and tactics to improve methods and performance.
- Contingency plans - Strategies and tactics for meeting goals and objectives when the unexpected occurs.
- Absence plans - Strategies and tactics for continuing in the absence of resources.
- Budget plans - Strategies and tactics, expressed in financial terms, to reach goals and objectives.
Are your plans effective? Use the criteria below to evaluate your company's safety plans.
- Are plans in writing? The best plans are more likely to fail, if they are not written.
- Do safety programs include written plans? OSHA requires "written programs" in many standards. What they're referring to are actually written plans.
- Do written plans include both strategies and tactics? For instance, in the Hazard Communications Program, container labeling is one strategy (general activity) to meet the objective of the program to communicate chemical hazards. Daily inspection of container labels is a specific tactic (procedure) used to ensure containers are properly labeled.
- Are persons assigned to carry out strategies and tactics?
- Are schedules and time limits established for activities and procedures?
- Are plans reviewed and evaluated regularly?
3. Safety Policies
A safety policy may be mandatory (a rule) or voluntary (a guideline). It is a predetermined (usually written) statement that provides direction in decision making. It reflects top management goals and objectives related to the safety function within the company. An effective safety policy is both educational and directive. It informs everyone about expected safety behaviors and standards and why they are important. It also assigns responsibility to perform certain duties or oversee people and programs.
Are your policies effective? Use the criteria below to evaluate your company's safety policies.
- Are policies based on objective, factual information, or subjective hunches? Policies based on hunches occur most often in fear-driven corporate cultures.
- Are policies are different organizational levels complimentary or contradictory? Contradictory policies are common among government agencies.
- Do different functional areas coordinate with each other when developing policies? The safety committee can be a real help fulfilling this criteria.
- Are policies written in easy-to-understand language? Clear understanding is necessary to decrease anxiety about expectations.
- Do policies change frequently? Effective policies are stable and do not change often.
- Are policies flexible? Rigid policies reflect controlling management styles rather than thoughtful leadership.
- Do policies help managers and supervisors in decision-making? Policies should help them feel comfortable making daily decisions without having to call "the boss."
4. Safety Processes
A Process is a actually a number of procedures, each working together to achieve a result. Think of a process as a series of interrelated work tasks or jobs, initiated by one or more requirements, that achieves a specific result for the customer. Usually the completion of one task flows into or initiates the beginning of the next.
5. Safety Procedures
A Procedure is a series of steps to accomplish a specific task, job, or project. A series of related tasks or procedures becomes a process. Procedures may also be thought of as tactics because they describe how specific goals and objectives are going to be accomplished. Standard safe operating procedures (SOP's) are a general, stable, written body of safety procedures that guide the organization.
6. Safety Practices
Safety practices may be thought of as the methods, techniques or precautions we take while performing a task to make sure we don't get hurt or ill. Some examples of safe work practices include:
- never taking unsafe shortcuts
- always following each step of a procedure
- never hurrying through a dangerous job
- cleaning your safety goggles before use each day
- checking a harness to make sure it is not defective
Of course there are many more, but you get the idea. And be sure to mention safe work practices when writing safe job procedures.