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Selected Safety Management Activity Areas 

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Content 5.0.2. My choice

The main issues to consider in selecting the risk / safety management activity areas that should be part of your management system are:

You will have to determine - together with your colleagues and possibly with some help of external parties - what need to be in you management system. Don't make it too big though with too much detail. But make sure you have included the right structure that ensures implementation and periodic evaluation so you can extend or alter your system based on experience and results.

Using my own experience and looking at the external sources (5.0.1.)  I made my own selection. I did that so it may further explain what I am talking about and it may also assist you in your thinking. When making my own choice as to what could/should be in a management system, I assumed a mid-size chemical company that I called TopChem. TopChem has a corporate office and locations in a number of countries. You will find some further detail in the TopChem example. The detail will be limited as I am treating this on a corporate level - it would cost me too much imagination to work this out further on a subsidiary level. 

I considered four "phases" in making the TopChem management system. My assumption is that you built a (production) process such that it is safe to operate, including the relevant issues: hardware (plant), software (procedures), human ware (people) and their interfaces. "Safe to operate" means that only expected  losses will occur and that those will be within the acceptance levels set for the operation. Preparing for safe building (process or operation design) is a major phase as errors made then will be difficult and costly to correct later. Once you have built it safe to operate (meeting the appropriate design criteria) it is a matter of keeping it at that level and improve as appropriate due to internal or external factors - safe now will not be safe tomorrow due to experiences gained, changing legislation etc. 

The four phases are:

(Prepare)

1. Management leadership / culture 

2. Risk assessment of / legislation concerning :

1. Processes

2. Products

3. Goods/materials

4. Installation / workplace

5. Tasks to be carried out / procedures 

6. Personnel (incl. management / supervision)

7. Third party services

3. External communication

4. Information & documentation

5. Obtain (design/purchase) safe level of

1. Processes (d)

2. Products (d)

3. Goods/materials (p)

4. Installation / workplaces (d)

5. Work instructions / procedures (d)

6. Personnel (incl. management / supervision) (p)

7. Third party services (p)  

6. Training

(Build)

7. Construction and start-up

(Maintain)

8. Inspections and maintenance

9. Critical task observations

10. Behavior management

11. Modification management

12. Internal communication 

13. Emergency planning and preparedness

( Improve)

14. Accident / incident investigation & analysis

15. Audits

16. Reviews

In practice phases will (or may seem to) overlap as certain activities of the prepare phase will also be evident during the operational phase. This is why I put the headings between brackets and you could actually leave them out all-together. For example, you could have extensions or alterations to existing operations that will require the entire process to be done again (for that extension/change as well as for the interfaces with existing operations). But my argument could also be that "modification management" (item 11) would take care of that: any deviation from normal operation (no matter how large or small) should  come under modification management and through that the sequence starting with "preparation" will start again.

THE principle of MANAGEMENT RESULTS

 "A manager tends to secure most effective results - through and with others - by performing the management work of planning, organizing, leading and controlling."