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900 Oil and Gas Safety Management
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Developing Goals and Objectives

To make sure the safety management system is successfully designed, developed and deployed, it's important to write effective goals and objectives.

Smart Goals

Many companies treat goals and objectives as though they are the same, but they're not. Let's look at the differences and see some examples.

Goals

Goals short unstructured statements and are easy to write. They're nothing more than wishes. For instance, a goal might be to:

  • Designate a qualified safety person to coordinate the program.
  • Plan for safety using a written Job Safety Analysis.
  • Make regular wellsite safety inspections and conduct health monitoring.
  • Follow safety procedures and rules.
  • Provide on-going safety training.
  • Enforce safety rules and use appropriate discipline.

SMART Objectives

Objectives are much more than mere wishes. They are structured, action-oriented statements that describe a specific outcome. Objectives should be relevant, agreed-upon, important, and realistic. They should be written using clearly stated, measurable, observable, and time-sensitive terms that describe how to accomplish a specific outcome.

A well-written objective is SMART:

  1. Specific: (Narrow focus, performance, behavior)
  2. Measurable: (Percentage, numerical, quantity, quality)
  3. Attainable: (It is possible)
  4. Relevant: (Important and supports goals, priorities, values)
  5. Time Limited: (Sets and end date)

Examples of safety objectives include:

  • Increase the number of safety observations submitted by 25% a month by July 31st.
  • Conduct safety training on lockout/tagout to all maintenance employees within three months.
  • Lower the number of injury accidents by 90% by the end of the fiscal year.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

1-5. Which of the following is the best example of a safety objective?