An effective safety management system is the cornerstone for good health and safety management for any organisation.
Many health and safety management systems are based on a simple plan, do, check, act (PDCA) model. Those who are familiar with OHSAS 18001 will be very familiar with this model, and those who followed HSE's HSG65 management model will probably be aware of their move towards PDCA as a more simple and effective model.
Designed to be a continuous cycle of improvement guiding you towards health and safety management success.
How does your businesses safety management compare?
A simple management system review can help highlight what you are doing well as well as any gaps and weaknesses. This can often be the most effective way of identifying any area where you are exposed to unnecessary risk as an organisation.
Develop your action plan:
Once you’ve identified any gaps you need to find a way to fill them.
Areas you will need to look at include but are not limited to:
All of these will need to be up to date, and suitable for the type of work your organisation undertakes.
These are just a few examples, it's fair to say to develop true success with health and safety no stone should be left unturned. Safety should be an intrinsic part of an organisation and not a stand alone function.
A positive safety culture and climate allows us to be intrinsically motivated to do the right things naturally, not just because we are told, and make interventions and actively participate in improvement activities.
In order to achieve this you need to bring your safety processes and systems ‘to life’, by your people becoming engaged with the process. This requires three key elements:
1. Personal Responsibility - We understand and accept what should be done and know what is expected of us.
2. Individual Consequences - We understand and accept that there is a fair system for reward and discipline.
3. Proactive Interventions - We work safely because we are motivated to do the right things naturally, not just because we are told to. We want to make interventions and actively participate in improvement.
