Creating an Effective Safety Control Structure

In some industries, the safety control structure is called the safety management system (SMS). In civil aviation, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority) has created standards and recommended practices for safety management systems and individual countries have strongly recommended or required certified air carriers to establish such systems in order to control organizational factors that contribute to accidents. 

There is no right or wrong design of a safety control structure or SMS. Most of the principles for design of safe control loops in chapter 9 also apply here. The culture of the industry and the organization will play a role in what is practical and effective. There are some general rules of thumb, however, that have been found to be important in practice. 

General Safety Control Structure Design Principles 

There needs to be assignment of responsibility for ensuring that hazardous behaviors are eliminated or, if not possible, mitigated in design and operations. Almost all attention during development is focused on what the system and its 

The danger inherent in this isolation of the safety efforts is argued repeatedly throughout this book. To be effective, the safety efforts must have impact, and they must be integrated into mainstream system engineering and operations. 

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