It is a systematic approach used for managing safety at an organization. This system includes necessary accountabilities, policies, produces and organizational structure. In simple words, it could be said that it is an explicit approach that defines actions from which safety-management is assumed by the organization for achieving acceptable safety. This system focuses on providing a organized and planned management tactic for controlling the safety based risks in the operations (Bahr 2018). For example, safety management systems need to take the organization’s explicit process and structure linked to safety procedures.
Components/elements of SMS as per ICAO’s framework
Taking a look at the ICAO framework, it could be seen that SMS comprises of 4 components and 12 elements in it. Implementation of the desired framework depends upon the scope of the organization as well as the complication of the services offered. Components are four in numbers that are further divided into twelve elements. Components involving certain elements are listed below:
Safety policy and objective
- This component of the SMS framework includes the following elements:
- Commitment and responsibility of the management
- Accountability of the safety system
- Hiring key safety personnel
- Coordination regarding planning system of emergency response
- Documentation regarding SMS.
Safety Management System
- This component deals with the identification of hazard
- It also includes assessment of risk and its mitigation
Safety Assurance (SA)
- Monitoring of safety management and its measurement
- Management regarding change
- Continuous efforts being made for improving the safety management system.
Safety promotion
- Training and educating others (especially employees in organizations) regarding safety.
- Better communication regarding safety.
Importance of safety management system
Taking a look at the present situation, it could be said that in today’s world, organizations are very concerned about the safety management system that they have. It ensures the implementation of certain safety processes and procedures that would be used for reducing all the possible risks when a task would be carried at the workplace (Álvarez-Santos, et al. 2018, p.136). There could have occurred incidents that may injury the employees so, to keep them safe from any injury, it is important to pay attention to the safety management system. This system is of great importance as it helps in mitigating the risk and illness at the manufacturing sites. It is not only important for keeping the people safe from risks but only it reduces the cost at operational sites. For organizations, it helps in reducing the mistakes as well implementation of SMS in organizations is of central importance as it provides a proper roadmap for helping businesses in maintaining the safety-related sections.
For having a trustworthy and friendly environment at the workplace, it is important to assure the employees that for organization their safety comes first. When they would be realized that safety management works in the best favor of the employees they would put all their efforts for helping an organization in achieving its target goals (Hollnagel, 2018). Another perspective for understanding importance of safety management system is that it has central place in the organization as it saves them from any legal actions as in the case of work-related injury employees are free to file a case against their companies, so for keeping an organization away from such legal proceedings, safety management system plays a vital role.
The setting of SMS standards
In the case of the safety management system, one thing that is of central importance is the setting of standards. In any system, what matters is defining certain areas, points or standards according to which functions would be performed. Generally, safety measures and standards are set by the top safety management for keeping employees and organization away from any unwanted situation and loss. Standards are being set by the national and international safety committees for whom the safety of employees is the top priority. The government makes policies regarding the safety of employees working in various organizations but each of the organization makes its standards of safety that it follows when it practically implements safety measures. Once standards are set, then all the safety managements are updated so that they could include components that appeal them in their safety measurements.
Evolution of SMS with time
Keeping the popularity of SMS into consideration, it could be witnessed that businesses and enterprises are emphasizing on the importance of safety measures that must be promoted by organizations for protecting their employees. Thought, safety had been an important area of focus since long but with time, there has been noticed as an increased investment that companies are making in different sections of safety departments. In the past, there were no specific terms and condition policies for safety management system but now organizations are expected to have open policies in terms of safety. Evolution of the safety management system could be looked upon the fact that with the advancement of time, safety department has been categorized into three sections i.e. safety of people, equipment and organizations. There have been witnessed many innovations in the safety management system as this field is expanding its roots and by coordinating with all other essential operations of the organization, SMS is becoming more important than ever before.
Types of safety cultures
For improving the effectiveness of the safety management system, there is a list of cultures. All these cultures contribute to improving SMS. These safety cultures include forced culture, protective culture, integral culture, and involved culture. Taking a look at the Force culture, it has been seen that it uses bribes and threats for motivating the employees. According to Peter, “It is a carrot and sticks culture”. Safety measures are imposed on the employees in this culture. In this safety culture, safety management organizers act like polices who need to identify which employee is violating the safety rules. Protective culture involves safety programs for employees. It produces numbers of policies and procedure as if any employee violates the SMS rules, management first react and focus on improving written policies. Employees are encouraged to act on the safety measures as required by the safety management. This type of safety culture creates an unending flow of regulations. Involved culture includes a high level of training that would educate employees about how they could keep them safe in undesired situations (Niu et al. 2019, P.214). This safety culture focuses on developing the interest of learners who would be trained. In this safety cultures, top management does not show any interest. Management shows more interest in the monitoring of performance rather than monitoring the behavior of its employees that would benefit it for long terms. Talking about the integral culture of safety, it has been observed that it includes training sessions but also this culture focuses on leveling up the SMS. First of all, an organization needs to see where it stands and then improvement is looked up for reaching the next level by removing all the obstacle of way. So as a whole, it could be said that there are different safety cultures which help organizations on promoting SMS that would save it from many harmful effects.
Concluding all the above discussion, it could be promulgated that safety management system combines with other practices, human resources and methods and helps organizations for achieving top rank in such a competitive environment. At present, for every organization, SMS has become more important than ever as it keeps the manpower of an organization safe from any incident that directly affects the proper functioning of a business.
References:
Álvarez-Santos, J., Miguel-Dávila, J.Á., Herrera, L. and Nieto, M., 2018. Safety Management System in TQM environments. Safety science, 101, pp.135-143.
Bahr, N.J., 2018. System safety engineering and risk assessment: a practical approach. CRC press.
Hollnagel, E., 2018. Safety-I and safety-II: the past and future of safety management. CRC press.
Niu, Y., Lu, W., Xue, F., Liu, D., Chen, K., Fang, D. and Anumba, C., 2019. Towards the “third wave”: An SCO-enabled occupational health and safety management system for construction. Safety Science, 111, pp.213-223.
