Safety systems delegation

Standards of accountability are now set by delegating authority to certain positions for ongoing safety work to be done. Coordination and management of the safety system needs to be allocated to certain departments and individuals, and this standard dictates who must do what, and by when, to run and maintain the system. 

Each authority was created by different laws that delegated different functions to different agencies at different times. BSEE, the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, and the Department of Transportation all have their own areas of jurisdiction which sometimes overlap. For example, BSEE regulates production safety systems and related firefighting, but the U.S. Coast Guard regulates personnel health and... 

This safety and health management system constitutes a safety framework with elements that should be implemented in all laboratories. More specific tools to delegate the responsibility of safety management in the radioanalytical chemistry laboratory are described in the following section. 

The Licensee is responsible for safety on a NPS and this is delegated to the Station Manager. In the event of a reactor accident, which may involve the release of activity to the environment, the Shift Manager, after reporting the details of the accident to the Station Manager or his nominated deputy, if they are on the station, will declare over the public address system that an emergency situation exists. All station staff and other persons on the site withdraw to nominated assembly areas for a roll call. Instructions may be given to issue potassium iodate tablets. 

Delegate authority, responsibilities, and accountability to employees and management at various levels in the organization for certain aspects of the safety management system... 

In many cases, government is itself in a position to decide what should be considered normal danger (and therefore as bad luck that victims must bear themselves) and what counts as a violation of physical safety for which a collective contribution to claims settlement would be desirable. Government can also share or delegate responsibility it can obligate or induce citizens and trade and industry to take on certain responsibilities. That is how it bears responsibility for the system of damage arrangements. 

As contracting of shuttle engineering has increased, safety oversight by NASA civil servants has diminished and basic system safety activities have been delegated to... 

Implied terms of the contract of employment include the common law requirements that employers take reasonable care of the safety of employees and do not xmdermine the trust and confidence of fhe employee. The former duty has three connected requirements - the provision of competent fellow workers, safe premises, plant and equipment and a safe system of work. An employer cannot delegate this duty to another. ... 

Safety management control eliminates the basic causes of accidents and near miss incidents by setting up management systems, which include near miss incident cause rectification, and by delegating safety responsibility and accountability. This system... 

Each level of leadership should be held accountable for ensuring that channels of communication remain open in all directions about safety concerns and issues. Refer to Chapter 7, Leadership and the Effective Safety Culture , for a discussion on defining roles, responsibility, delegation, authority, and accountability for everyone in the organization (Building an Effective Health and Safety Management System, 1989). 

Discuss why delegation has not been considered part of a safety management system. 

The final element of the triad is accountability, which activates responsibility and authority. Without accountability, even if authority is granted and responsibility delegated, nothing may happen, actions may or may not be taken, nobody may care about results, and the safety management system fails. 

Effective implementation of a safety management system is a leadership team s responsibility. As an in-depth system must reach all levels of the organization, the leadership team should actively involve all employees of the organization in the process. To reach the real potential of a system, it is important that roles, responsibility, delegation, and authority for safety-related assignments are clearly defined and coupled with a strong accountability structure. 

Depending on the size of your organization, to provide better support for the safety management system, a central safety committee can be established. To reduce the time requirements and demands on the members, various tasks can be delegated to members who in turn lead and manage the specific subcommittees. These subconunittees coordinate and share their information to provide overall consistency and ensure that no gaps between the subcommittees develop. Ad-hoc committees are formed to complete specific projects and are limited to a specific time frame. 

BP had a short-term focus, and its decentralized management system and entrepreneurial culture had delegated substantial discretion to US refinery plant managers without clearly defining process safety expectations, responsibilities, or accountabilities. 

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