Create Company-Wide Compliance With A Safety Management System

Industries that include significant safety risks need to have a strong safety management system (SMS) in place. Having a good safety system will mean the entire company is well informed and on the same page when it comes to safety procedures and protocols. This is essential for encouraging company-wide compliance and improving processes.

Managing safety elements in the workplace is important for a couple of reasons. Systems become enhanced – something that smooths out workflows and operations. It also helps to create a standard system that everyone can follow. Of course, the main goal though is to create a safer, more risk-free workplace.

What Is A Safety Management System?

A safety management system is a kind of organized structure to keep track of management systems in the workplace. These systems are specially designed to apply to industries that require significant risk management.

Safety management systems cover a couple of essential areas to help with risk management. These include creating accountabilities, implementing an organizational structure, and creating policies and procedures. The ultimate goal of applying a system like this is to help prevent accidents and injuries, or any other risk associated with safety issues.

An SMS is systemic – meaning that it can be used to continually monitor, identify, and control these risks. These are systems that help to maintain a continuous flow of risk management in the most practical manner possible for your business.

Safety systems are also fully scalable. This means that you can adapt and customize them to grow with your business. They can apply to all sizes of businesses and operations.

The Importance Of Having A Safety Management System

Having a well-structured system is essential for any workplace that offers potential risks. The overarching goal of these systems is to prevent or reduce injuries and accidents in the workplace. Safety management systems have been known to reduce the severity of work-related incidents.

Having a safer workplace offers clear benefits. Employees are happier and feel safer – enhancing the corporate culture. Companies reduce their risk of liability for accidents, and preventing workplace accidents is a much more cost-effective process than actually dealing with those accidents.

Having an SMS in place is necessary for corporate due diligence. These systems really help to enhance the value of any high-risk work environment and business.

Safety management systems also allow businesses to have a more informed decision-making ability. Resource allocation within a company is improved through well-managed and organized systems. This will lead to increased efficiencies throughout the organization, as well as a decline in expenses. These systems also help to educate employees. So, not only are they good for protecting employees, but they also help to optimize the organization’s functions.

Elements Of A Good Safety Management System

A good system will cover a number of different areas and procedures. In fact, the minimum requirements of a safety management system should involve four main components.

When implementing a safety management system, these are the necessary features to cover:

Safety Policy and Objectives

This includes documentation and processes based on the responsibilities and commitments of management with regard to safety.

This is an important component as it covers:

safety accountabilities
the safety management system documentation
and the implementation of the system.

Elements within this include the planning and coordination of emergency responses, outlining accountabilities around safety, and highlighting the appointed safety personnel within the staff.

This first element of a good management system helps to create an understanding of safety in the workplace and what the management system aims to achieve.

By laying out all the policies and objectives, everyone will be on the same page and know who is responsible for what in the event of an incident.

Safety Risk Management

Once policies and objectives have been laid out, it is necessary to actually find the safety risks. A method for identifying hazards in the workplace needs to be put into action here. This process should cover all the hazard possibilities within the relevant industry.

As well as hazard identification, there is also risk assessment and mitigation that needs to take place. Risk management will include creating a standard approach that the organization can use to assess risks. This will help to understand how to implement risk controls and preventative measures.

Safety Assurance

This is an essential component of any safety system as it directly aims toward making the workplace safer. This component includes a couple of different elements.

Gathering data around safety is important. This is the occurrence reporting step – where you need to gather and analyze any information relating to safety. This is necessary for the monitoring and measurement of safety performances.

It’s important to also conduct an investigation. This should be an internal investigation looking into the safety details of the workplace.

The purpose of gathering data here is to use it to enhance the safety systems of the workplace. This will help to implement and manage changes. Through doing this, you create a continuous management system that focuses on monitoring, acquiring data, and improving.

Safety Promotion

Another big part of SMSs is creating awareness and training employees. Through all of the information gathered in these systems, training and education can take place. In order to help prevent accidents from happening, it is essential to make all safety communications and protocols clear and accessible.

Promoting safety management plans and occurrences in the workplace is a necessary step for preventing accidents. To support and maintain an effective SMS, safety promotion needs to be a prominent feature.

The 7 Step Safety Management Plan

The four main components above are essential for any effective safety management plan. Yet, these components can be broken down further to create a step-by-step safety management plan.

Below are 7 steps to follow for an effective system.

Create a strategic, actionable safety plan.
Put together the paperwork on all policies and processes with regard to the safety systems in your organization.
Implement a system of training for anyone entering the workplace. This can include rules of the workplace on arrival and the rules of the company.
Risks and safety can only really be managed if they are monitored. Monitoring the safety of a workplace will include investigations on new incidents and checking in on existing safety assessment operations.
Supervise the safety controls to make sure that the systems are being implemented properly.
Gathering data and compiling thorough reports is the only way to really make sure that these systems are working. Make sure that you keep an eye on the SMS and keep everyone up to date on any changes or occurrences as well.
Promoting safety management is the last step. Educate your employees and the people who enter your workplace. Make sure that everyone has a good understanding of the safety risks and procedures in place.

Conclusion

Any kind of business that involves a potential risk needs to implement a solid safety management system. These systems offer a commitment to the safety aspects of an organization and they help to make the workplace more risk-free.

Not only are these systems there to promote safety, but they also help to create a stronger level of compliance across the company. In high-risk environments and industries, enhancing safety is crucial.

To ensure all your workers are up to date on safety procedures and can access important information, consider including a comprehensive safety application, like Field1st, as part of your safety management system.