HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Five elements of successful management practice, namely:

Planning.

Employers should set up an effective health and safety management system to implement their health and safety policy which is proportionate to the hazards and risks.

Adequate planning includes:

• Adopting a systematic approach to the completion of a risk assessment. Risk assessment methods should be used to decide on priorities and to set objectives for eliminating hazards and reducing risks.

• This should include a programme, with deadlines for the completion of the risk assessment process, together with suitable deadlines for the design and implementation of the preventive and protective measures which are necessary.

• Selecting appropriate methods of risk control to minimize risks.

• Establishing priorities and developing performance standards both for the completion of risk assessment(s) and for the implementation of preventive and protective measures, which at each stage minimizes the risk of harm to 28 The Health and Safety Handbook people. Wherever possible, risks are eliminated through selection and design of facilities, equipment, and processes.

Organization. This includes:

(a) Involving employees and their representatives in carrying out risk assessments, deciding on preventive and protective measures and implementing those requirements in the workplace. This may be achieved by the use of formal health and safety committees where they exist, and by the use of teamworking, where employees are involved in deciding on the appropriate preventive and protective measures and written procedures, etc.

(b) Establishing effective means of communication and consultation in which a positive approach to health and safety is visible and clear. The employer should have adequate health and safety information and make sure it is communicated to employees and their representatives so informed decisions can be made about the choice of preventive and protective measures. Effective communication will ensure that employees are provided with sufficient information so that control measures can be implemented effectively.

(c) Securing competence by the provision of adequate information, instruction and training and its evaluation, particularly for those who carry out risk assessments and make decisions about preventive and protective measures. Where necessary this will need to be supported by the provision of adequate health and safety assistance or advice.

Control.

Establishing control includes:

(a) Clarifying health and safety responsibilities and ensuring that the activities of everyone are well coordinated.

(b) Ensuring everyone with responsibilities understands clearly what they have to do to discharge their responsibilities, and ensure they have the time and resources to discharge them effectively.

(c) Setting standards to judge the performance of those with responsibilities and ensure they meet them. It is important to reward good performance as well as to take action to improve poor performance.

(d) Ensuring adequate and appropriate supervision, particularly for those who are learning and who are new to a job.

Monitoring.

Employers should measure what they are doing to implement their health and safety policy, to assess how effectively they are controlling risks, and how well they are developing a positive health and safety culture.

Monitoring includes:

(a) Having a plan and making adequate routine inspections and checks to ensure that preventive and protective measures are in place and effective. Active monitoring reveals how effectively the health and safety management system is functioning. 29 Health and Safety Management

(b) Adequately investigating the immediate and underlying causes of incidents and accidents to ensure that remedial action is taken, lessons are learned and longer-term objectives are introduced. In both cases it may be appropriate to record and analyze the results of monitoring activity, to identify any underlying themes or trends which may not be apparent from looking at events in isolation.

Review.

Review involves:

(a) Establishing priorities for necessary remedial action that was discovered as a result of monitoring to ensure that suitable action is taken in good time and is completed.

(b) Periodically reviewing the whole of the health and safety management system including the elements of planning, organization, control, and monitoring to ensure that the whole system remains effective. Successful Health and Safety Management

This HSE publication explains the health and safety management process as, fundamentally, taking place in a series of stages thus:  Policy. Organizations which are successful in achieving high standards of health and safety have health and safety policies which contribute to their business performance while meeting their responsibilities to people and the environment in a way which fulfills both the spirit and the letter of the law. In this way, they satisfy the expectations of shareholders, employees, customers, and society at large.

Their policies are cost-effective and aimed at achieving the preservation and development of physical and human resources and reductions in financial losses and liabilities. The policies influence all their activities and decisions, including those to do with the selection of resources and information, the design and operation of working systems, the design and delivery of products and services, and the control and disposal of waste.

Organizing.

Organizations which achieve high health and safety standards are structured and operated so as to put their health and safety policies into effective practice.

This is helped by the creation of a positive culture which secures involvement and participation at all levels. It is sustained by effective communication and the promotion of competence which enables all employees to make a responsible and informed contribution to the health and safety effort. The visible and active leadership of senior managers is necessary to develop and maintain a culture supportive of health and safety management. Their aim is not simply to avoid accidents but to motivate and empower people to work safely. The vision, values, and beliefs of leaders become the shared ‘common knowledge’ of all.

These successful organizations adopt a planned and systematic approach to policy implementation. Their aim is to minimize the risks created by work activities, products, and services. They use risk assessment methods to decide priorities and set objectives for hazard elimination and risk reduction. Performance standards are established and performance is measured against them. Specific actions needed to promote a positive health and safety culture to eliminate and to control risks are identified. Wherever possible, risks are eliminated by the careful selection and design of facilities, equipment and processes or minimized by the use of physical control measures. Where this is not possible systems of work and personal protective equipment are used to control risks.

Measuring performance.

Health and safety performance in organizations which manage health and safety successfully is measured against predetermined standards.

This reveals when and where the action is needed to improve performance. The success of action taken to control risks is assessed through active self-monitoring involving a range of techniques.

This includes an examination of both hardware (premises, plant, and substances) and software (people, procedures, and systems), including individual behavior. Failures of control are assessed through reactive monitoring which requires the thorough investigation of any accidents, ill health or incidents with the potential to cause harm or loss. In both active and reactive monitoring the objects are not only to determine the immediate causes of substandard performance but, more importantly, to identify the underlying causes and the implications for the design and operation of the health and safety management system.

Auditing and reviewing performance.

Learning from all relevant experience and applying the lessons learned are important elements in effective health and safety management. This needs to be done systematically through regular reviews of performance based on data both from monitoring activities and from independent audits of the whole health and safety management system. 

These form the basis for self-regulation and for securing compliance with sections 2 to 6 of the HSWA. Commitment to continuous improvement involves the constant development of policies, approaches to implementation and techniques of risk control. Organizations which achieve high standards of health and safety assess their health and safety performance by internal reference to key performance indicators and by external comparison with the performance of business competitors.

They often also record and account for their performance in their annual reports. These elements are relevant in all management situations, not merely those relating to health and safety at work. The principal recommendations with respect to these five elements of successful health and safety management are summarized below. 31 Health and Safety Management Effective health and safety policies Effective health and safety management demands comprehensive health and safety policies which fulfill the spirit and the letter of the law, which are effectively implemented and which are considered in all business practice and decision making.

Organizations achieving high standards of health and safety develop policies that recognize:  that health and safety can contribute to business performance by preserving and developing human and physical resources, by reducing costs and liabilities and as a means of expressing corporate responsibility that leaders must develop appropriate organizational structures and a culture which supports risk control and secures the full participation of all members of the organization; the need to resource and plan policy implementation adequately;  that the only effective approach to injury, ill health and loss prevention is one based on the systematic identification and control of risk;

Key elements of successful health and safety management Auditing Policy development Organizational development Feedback loop to improve performance Developing techniques of planning, measuring and reviewing Reviewing performance Measuring performance Planning and implementing Organizing Policy

The Health and Safety Handbook the need for the organization to develop an understanding of risk control and to be responsive to internal and external change;  the need to scrutinize and review performance so as to learn from experience;  the connection between quality and health and safety. Organizing for health and safety 

Organizations achieving success in health and safety create and sustain a culture which secures the motivation and involvement of all members of the organization and the control of risks. This leads them to establish, operate and maintain structures and systems that aim at:  securing control by employing managers who lead by example clear allocation of responsibilities for policy formulation and development, for planning and reviewing health and safety activities, for the implementation of plans, and for reporting on performance; – the allocation of health and safety responsibilities to people with the necessary authority and competence, who are given the time and resources to carry out their duties effectively; – ensuring that individuals are held accountable for their health and safety responsibilities and are motivated by systems of target setting and positive reinforcement; – the provision of adequate supervision, instruction and guidance; – payment and reward systems which avoid conflict between achieving output targets and health and safety requirements;-

encouraging cooperation of employees and safety representatives by involving them in policy formulation and development and in planning, implementing, measuring, auditing and reviewing performance; – making arrangements for involvement at the operational level to supplement more formal participative arrangements; securing effective communication by means of visible behavior, written material, and face-to-face discussion; ensuring competence through recruitment, selection, placement, transfer and training and the provision of adequate specialist advice. Planning and implementing Organizations achieving success in health and safety minimize risks in their operation by drawing up plans and setting performance standards with the aim of eliminating and controlling risks.

They establish, operate and maintain planning systems which:

Health and Safety Management identify objectives and targets for their achievement within a specific period;  set performance standards for management actions designed to initiate, develop, maintain and improve a positive health and safety culture in the four key areas – control, competence, communication and cooperation; set performance standards for the control of risks which are based on hazard identification and risk assessment, which take legal requirements as the minimum acceptable standard of performance and which emphasize: – the elimination of risks by the substitution of safer premises, plant or substances and, where this is not reasonably practicable, – the control of risks by physical safeguards which minimize the need for employees to follow detailed systems of work or to use protective equipment;

establish priorities for the provision and maintenance of control measures by the use of risk assessment techniques, giving priority to high-risk areas and adopting temporary control measures to minimize risks where satisfactory control cannot be achieved immediately;

set performance standards for the control of risks both to employees and to others who may be affected by the organization’s activities, products and services; ensure the adequate documentation of all performance standards, the detail of documentation reflecting the degree of risk. Measuring performance Organizations achieving success in health and safety measure their performance against predetermined plans and standards, the implementation and effectiveness of which they assess as a basis for taking appropriate remedial action.

This leads them to establish, operate and maintain systems which ensure that performance is measured objectively. Such systems include: active monitoring systems which: – measure the achievement of objectives and specified standards; –

reflect risk control priorities by concentrating on high-risk activities which are monitored in more depth and/or more frequently; reactive monitoring systems which collect and analyse information suggesting failures in health and safety performance. These require systems for reporting: – injuries and cases of ill health; –

other loss events, eg damage to property; – incidents (including all those which had the potential to cause injury, ill health or loss); – hazards; and – weaknesses or omissions in performance standards;

The Health and Safety Handbook  reporting and response systems which ensure that information from active and reactive monitoring is evaluated by people competent to identify situations which create an immediate risk to health or safety, and to ensure that appropriate remedial action is taken; investigation systems which ensure: –

the investigation of reports arising from active and reactive monitoring, with priority being given to those circumstances which present the greatest risk; –

the identification of both the immediate and the underlying causes of events; –

the referral of information to the level of management with authority to initiate the necessary remedial action, including organizational and policy changes; –

the adequate analysis of all collected data to identify common features or trends and initiate improvements. Reviewing performance Organizations achieving success in health and safety aim to evaluate performance, in order:  to maximize learning and to ensure that appropriate action is taken to improve the control of specific risks;

and  to improve overall health and safety performance and further develop their health and safety policies. This leads them to establish, operate and maintain audit and review systems which ensure that:  information is obtained by the use of in-house auditing systems or external auditors on the validity and reliability of the whole health and safety management planning and control system, and the ability of the organization to develop its health and safety policies and improve the control of risks;

the appropriate remedial action is taken to deal with specific issues arising from measurement activities and to ensure that progress in implementing a remedial action is followed through according to plan; the overall effectiveness of policy implementation is assessed internally with particular reference to the following four key performance indicators: – assessment of the degree of compliance with health and safety performance standards;  identification of areas where standards are absent or inadequate; – assessment of the achievement of specific objectives; – accident, ill-health and incident data together with analyses of immediate and underlying causes, trends and common features; Health and Safety Management  health and safety performance is assessed externally by comparison with other organizations.