Professional Safety Management Principles

If the practice of safety professionals is based on sound science, engineering, and management principles, it follows that they should be able to provide measures of performance that reflect with some degree of accuracy the outcomes of the hazards management initiatives they propose. 

Safety management has certain principles and fundamental truths that are derived from professional management and which are applicable to safety management. 

Safety accomplishments come from applying professional management principles and practices to all functions, including safety. 

System Safety professionals must recognize that the safety, health, and welfare of mankind is dependent upon sound scientific, engineering and management principles and practices being incorporated into the design, test, production, construction, and use of products and systems. 

Incident frequency is down, but severity has not decreased proportionately. That requires a review, by safety professionals and the managements they influence, of the premises on which safety management systems are built. The result should be the elimination of the myths, if they exist, that addressing frequency also encompasses severity and that worker unsafe acts are the principle causal factors for injuries, and adopting a mind-set, in any case, that gives proper attention to serious injury reduction. 

This chapter is intended to be a primer on quality assurance concepts and to establish that they have a remarkable kinship with the principles for the practice of safety. In some instances, opportunities arise for safety professionals to be involved in quality management initiatives and by doing so they benefit professionally. For other safety professionals, it is to their advantage to become knowledgeable of quality management principles as they relate to the counsel they give. 

The lack of adherence to good principles represents issues affecting all aspects of management with the enlightened construction professional aware that effective health and safety management itself remains a pre-requisite for commercial viability and business longevity. 

Chapter 8, A Systematic Approach to the Management of Human Error, explains how the manager and safety professional can use human factors principles in the management of process safety. This chapter also provides a practical plan for a plant human error reduction program that will improve productivity and quality as well. 

Bartell SM (1996) Ecological/environmental risk assessment Principles and practices. In Kolluru R, Bartell SM, Stricoff S, and Pitblado R (eds.) Risk Assessment and Management Handbook for Environmental, Health, and Safety Professionals. New York McGraw-Hill. 

Working within their legal, professional and moral duty to ensure a safe outdoor learning environment requires the teacher to identify, manage and control any risks to health and well-being. However, safe practice in the outdoor classroom is just as dependent on safety education, the creation of a safety ethos and the application of basic principles, as it is upon regulation and legislation. 

There is a remarkable kinship between the principles of quality management and the principles for the practice of safety. Safety professionals involved in soundly based quality management initiatives have opportunities for professional growth and recognition beyond the usual, since that participation allows them to assist in solving problems that impact broadly on quality, productivity, and cost efQciency, as weU as safety. 

This is also a book about fundamental principles and practices. It is addressed to students, educators, and practicing safety professionals. I hope that readers will welcome a review of our fundamentals, intended to improve the theoretical and practical base for our practice. I have attempted to argue systematically and consistently for hazards management ideas of substance in relation to our history, opportunities, and needs. 

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