Organisational control formal

A key purpose of the safety case and the associated hazard log is to formally communicate those controls which other stakeholders are required to implement. In many cases, this translates into a natural boundary between the supplier of a HIT system and the healthcare organisation who implements it. Safety cases frequently demarcate the scope at this convenient level and also make it possible for the parties developing safety cases to mirror the commercial contract. 

The Internal control system is by no means a Norwegian invention. It has been developed inter alia in the U.S. car and aviation industries over several decades. But Norwegian regulations in the last twenty-hve to thirty years have taken the system a step further by more explicitly making it a distinct formal part of the state safety regulation regime, not just a matter for industry s internal organising of achvihes. 

Under the formal controls proposed and implemented by management is an undercurrent of real but unwritten controls that centre on the informal organisation. They stem from the primary group where norms of behaviour are established that group members are required to comply with. These norms can relate to production matters and if they coincide with the company aims can be to the great benefit of both the company and the employee. However if these two aims are at variance it can be to the detriment of both. 

Compliance with these informal controls can be much stronger than with the formal controls because of the great pressure exerted firstly by the wish to comply with the group norm and secondly by the degree of pressure a peer group can put on a member. What the level or extent of the informal control is will often bear no relationship to the formal needs of the organisation but will reflect the social needs of the informal group. 

The board needs to accept formally and publicly its collective role in providing safety leadership in its organisation. Strong leadership is seen as being vital in delivering effective risk control. Everyone should understand that the most senior management is committed to continuous improvement in safety performance. 

Safe systems of work (SSOW) - these are formal written procedures that describe how a process or activity is to be undertaken. The HSWA requires the production of SSOWs and that all employees know them. There is a wide range of terminology used across industry to describe an SSOW. In the construction industry, for example, the term method statement is used, in many production-based organisations the SSOWs are referred to as safe operating or standard operating procedures. Regardless of the terminology used and the way they are recorded, SSOWs tend to include very similar items, such as a description of the work, its sequence, the risks and controls, etc. further details on SSOWs are discussed later in this chapter. 

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