Safety management policy

The last area addressed by the systems approach is concerned with global issues involving the influence of organizational factors on human error. The major issues in this area are discussed in Chapter 2, Section 7. The two major perspectives that need to be considered as part of an error reduction program are the creation of an appropriate safety culture and the inclusion of human error reduction within safety management policies. 

The general approach that has been advocated in this chapter is that it is the responsibility of an organization, through its safety management policies, to create the systems, environment, and culture that will minimize human error and thereby maximize safety. 

Traditional Safety Engineering A safety management policy that emphasizes individual responsibility for system safety and the control of error by the use of motivational campaigns and punishment. 

During the period of initial implementation of process safety management policies, existing facilities may also be the subject of HAZOP or What-If reviews. 

The paper presents and discusses the results of this survey. Results illustrate that all organizations have been using safety management policies and their safety performance metrics are positive, however all have limitations. The non-proof of Hypothesis 2 (the relationship between the number of accidents and safety training) shows that the small size of the establishments has an impact on the perceptions of the employees. It also serves as an example that, in the future, a more expanded version of the questionnaire should be used in order to avoid similar shortcomings. 

Review Policy The review policy should estabhsh when project safety reviews should be done. All capital projects, large or small, should have one or more safety reviews during the course of the project. The number and types of review shoiild be stated in a management policy. Any reasons for exceptions to the policy should oe documented as well. The policy should address not only projects internal to a company, but also any joint ventures or turnkey projects by outside firms. 

Purchasing may be critical to quality, cost efficiency and safety of the service provided. Therefore evidence should be given that there is a written management policy or directive establishing quality criteria. 

The management policy for inclusion of safety, health and environment. 

Accident defenses may be regarded as a series of barriers (engineered safety systems, safety procedures, emergency training, etc.). As barriers fail, incipient failures become real. Inappropriate management policies create inadequate PIFs, which give rise to opportunities foi ermr when initiated by local triggers or unusual conditions. 

As you know from the policy statement distributed last month, we recognize continuous improvement in process safety management (PSM) as a company priority. 

Corporate policies gooeming safety management must be reflected in a company s PSM program. 

As discussed earlier in this chapter, the main requirements to ensure an appropriate safety culture are similar to those which are advocated in quality management systems. These include active participation by the workforce in error and safety management initiatives, a blame-free culture which fosters the free flow of information, and an explicit policy which ensures that safety considerations will always be primary. In addition both operations and management staff need feedback which indicates that participation in error reduction programs has a real impact on the way in which the plant is operated and systems are designed. 

Management policies are the source of many of the preconditions that give rise to systems failures. For example, if no explicit policy exists or if resources are not made available for safety critical areas such as procedures design, the effective presentation of process information, or for ensuring that effective communication systems exist, then human error leading to an accident is, at some stage, inevitable. Such policy failures can be regarded as another form of latent human error, and will be discussed in more detail in Section 2.7. 

Sociotechnical approach (control of error through changes in management policy and culture) Occupational/process safety Effects of organizational factors on safety Policy aspects Culture Interviews Surveys Organizational redesign Total Quality Management More frequent in recent years... 

The sociotechnical systems perspective is essentially top-down, in that it addresses the question of how the implications of management policies at all levels in the organization will affect the likelihood of errors with significant consequences. The sociotechnical systems perspective is therefore concerned with the implications of management and policy on system safety, quality, and productivity. 

Management policies have an all pervasive effect on the activities of individuals at every level in the organization. The safety-related factors at the management level which have been considered in the organizational systems perspective in Chapter 2, will be summarized here to complete the general classification scheme of PIFs. 

With regard to evaluating these factors, it is recommended that structured checklists be used, such as those provided by the HFAM method described in Chapter 2. These checklists provide an explicit link between the direct causal factors and management policies. Figure 2.12 shows how these checklists could be used to investigate possible procedures deficiencies, and the policies that led to the deficiencies, as part of the incident investigation. Similar checklists can be used to investigate possible culture problems (e.g., inappropriate trade-offs between safety and production) that could have been implicated in an accident. 

It is the duty of the company to prepare a Major Accident Prevention Policy (MAPP). This will set out the policies for ensuring the safe operation of the plant and the protection of employees and the environment. It will include details of the safety management organisation that will implement the policy. 

A safety management system for implementing the prevention policy has been put into effect. The policy should include the organizational structure, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources for determining and implementing the policy. 

Several of the recommendations in this report deal with concerns about safety and risk. The Army established a procedure in 1997 for dealing with these matters, which was published in A Guide to Risk Management Policy and Activities (U.S. Army, 1997). The Guide calls for the following safety and risk evaluations to be completed at the design stage ... 

---