Safety Management Systems by Jose Castaneda

The effectiveness of any safety intervention can be tied to two main aspects of the overall safety program: the existence of a safety management system and an organizational culture that is supportive of the safety efforts. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines a safety management system as being comprised of four areas, all of which are necessary for a safety and health program to be effective in meeting its goals and objectives.

The components of the safety and health management system include management leadership, employee involvement, work-site analysis, hazard prevention and control activities, and safety and health training.

Management Leadership and Employee Involvement

Without management leadership for safety, a safety program can be almost guaranteed to be ineffective. Through their actions, members of senior management display the importance of safety in an organization. Including safety performance as part of the overall organizational goals is one way management conveys this importance. If the employees do not perceive safety as critical to management, it will almost certainly not be seen as necessary by the workers. Where management has placed safety on a par with other functions, they must be genuinely committed to following through, or employees will not abide by company policies. Getting employees involved in developing and implementing safety program tasks increases the chances that their programs will be accepted and followed by the employees.

Work-Site Analysis

Work-site analysis involves the identification of hazards to correct hazardous conditions before an accident occurs. Tools to consider as part of the work-site analysis include conducting a property hazard assessment, environmental audits, accident investigation, job hazard analysis, and analyzing accident data. Proactive safety programs are implemented with the goal of potential accidents and the losses from those accidents before they occur. Reactive safety programs, on the other hand, focus on activities explicitly aimed at the causal factors attributed to accidents and losses that have already happened.

Hazard Preventive and Control

Hazard prevention and control include program components designed to prevent accidents and components intended to minimize their severity should an accident occur. Examples of programs aimed at hazard prevention and control include preventive maintenance programs and emergency preparedness. A recognized hierarchy for hazard control is elimination, substitution, engineering, warning, administrative action, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Safety and Health Training

The fourth component of safety management is safety and health training. The training should ensure that the employees at all levels of the organization are aware of safety and health policies and procedures that may impact them. Additionally, task-specific safety and health training should provided to employees with unique exposures to hazards on the job.

OSHA has developed an evaluation tool, the Safety and Health Program Assessment Worksheet (OSHA Form 33), as part of its outreach programs to evaluate the safety and health management system. As part of the assessment, consultants review an employer's existing safety and health management program to identify elements considered adequate and elements that need development or improvement. To assist employers in meeting their training obligations, OSHA published the training requirements in OSHA Standards and Training Guidelines. This document provides employers with guidance on how to identify training needs, develop a training program, and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.