Davey Resource Group

The concept of managing a safety management system (SMS), and every organization has one whether they know it or not, is to help define what an organization or company’s culture of safety looks like. “As long as your organization has people working on its behalf, or who may be affected by its activities, then using a systematic approach to managing health and safety will bring benefits to it” (Paoletta, p. 10 2021). The general structure of a SMS has a number of components/elements, however it can be unique to every organization. Those elements may include: management/leadership, employee participation, hazard analysis, risk assessment, incident investigations, training and education, analytical and performance analysis, and observations and audits. 

Each of these elements can be considered equivalent to a link on a chain, giving the safety professional the ability to initiate cultural change by addressing weak links to make a difference and coalesce or mature that culture over time seeking continuous improvement. Periodic SMS assessment/reviews give safety professionals the ability to identify those “weak links”, or elemental gaps, before that link produces an incident. In turn, system safety assessments can be the blueprint that challenges safety professionals, and other stakeholders accountable for safety to define or identify gaps within the system and mitigate the risks associated with those hazards until those risks are deemed acceptable. Risk mitigation is achieved through controls; starting with elimination or substitution, then moving towards engineered solutions if necessary. And if all else fails, administrative and personal protective equipment controls should help mitigate the risk to acceptable levels or the task should simply not be attempted. When you take an SMS and manage its success through system safety and safety design reviews, “their application in the occupational, environmental, and product safety settings would result in significant reductions in incidents (that would otherwise normally have) adverse effects” (Manuele, p. 508 2020) on the organization.

So let’s break the SMS down even further with an example for a deeper understanding of the concept. Hypothetically, if your system gap analysis, as part of your cultural assessment, shows your employee engagement with safety practices/processes/procedures/accountability needing improvement, what should your course of action be? It really depends on the root of your problem, and your assessment should provide you with that information. Oftentimes though, as stated in the UAA Culture of Safety Decision Matrix, your 1st step may cause you to take a really hard look at leadership within your organization from a corrective action standpoint. Do your leaders walk the talk? Are your leaders spending quality time in the field supporting expectations? Do your leaders encourage field level employees to participate in incident investigations? Do your field level employees understand the “why” behind the policy or procedure? Is the mission or task at hand understandable to all involved? Is feedback freely accepted and encouraged by your leadership; just to name a few potential opportunities for all of us to challenge ourselves with when it comes to leadership. With that said, because we all know nothing is perfect, within every element of your SMS, opportunity for continuous improvement will exist.

The moral to our story is that a SMS approach to achieving a culture of safety requires a proactive mindset for it to be successful. By gaining the “buy in of others”, SMS becomes more than a tool, it becomes the framework of the culture of safety you wish to build and/or mature. "Buy in" is the ability for every person in an organization to not only know the goal but deliver the goal at each level within the organization. This may require a cultural shift by starting corporate meetings with safety briefings/messages, or training foreman in causal analysis so they are actively involved in investigations. With that said, a holistic and proactive approach to elemental analysis and continuous improvement framework now gives you the structure to examine, improve, and  mature your culture of safety over time. Please feel free to reach out to our safety consultants in the exhibit hall to discuss the concept or your potential needs around Safety Culture Improvement.

Paul S. Hurysz Jr.                                                        Travis Vickerson