What is a Safety Management System?
A Safety Management System (SMS) is a structured, top-down and organisation-wide framework that helps businesses make better decisions around their daily operations.
Safety Management Systems usually comprise four key pillars: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion. SMSs emphasise safety management (and Occupational Health and Safety Management (OSHA or H&S)) as being just as important as any other part of running a business.
Who uses Safety Management Systems?
SMSs are most common in high-risk industries such as aviation, maritime, energy (particularly nuclear) and construction –but they are also gaining prominence in other hazard-prone sectors like healthcare.
Regions and Industries with Safety Management System Laws
Some examples of SMS legislation include:
• Aviation – SMSs are recognised worldwide by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) and by service providers as standard. Since 2018, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration has required commercial airlines to implement SMSs.
• Rail – Some regions, such as the EU, require railway operators to use a functioning Safety Management System to ensure the safety of their overall operations.
• Energy – Energy (particularly offshore operations and nuclear) is another sector that often requires strict SMSs. For instance, the UK-based HSE sees “safety management systems” as “crucial mechanisms in the delivery of safety” in offshore oil and gas.
Do you need a Safety Management System?
Systematic Safety Management Systems may be a legal requirement in some higher-risk industries, but they can be adapted by any sort of organisation that wants a more complete and holistic solution to occupational health and safety.
For those industries that don’t legally require a Safety Management System, they can still be a helpful tool in meeting your region’s occupational health and safety duties (such as the UK’s Health and Safety Act, the USA’s Aviation Administration, or the EU’s OSH standards).
What are the main pillars of a Safety Management System?
Most organisations split Safety Management Systems into four key areas:
1. Safety Policy
2. Safety Risk Management
3. Safety Assurance
4. Safety Promotion
If this all sounds pretty vague, don’t worry! We’ll break down these topics in the following sections.
Safety Policy
An organisation’s safety policy outlines its safety objectives and commitments. It should be set out by employers and accountable managers who are committed to improving the organisation’s safety culture. A safety policy should be clear, unequivocal, and achievable.
Safety Policy will normally be drafted by top management (who will be expected to lead by example). It is important, however, that senior management actively engages with relevant groups and personnel throughout the organisation. This may include health and safety managers and trade union reps.
Balancing top-down accountability with bottom-up engagement is a good way to encourage buy-in for the new safety system.
Safety Risk Management
Safety Risk Management is where the objectives of the Safety Policy become “on the ground” realities. This part will feel the most familiar if your organisation already has a health and safety process (particularly in the UK, where risk assessments are a legal requirement for most businesses).
In essence, Safety Risk Management involves:
1. Identifying hazards – Hazards can come from the environment (such as uneven ground), processes (such as manual handling), people (such as customers and clients), tools, machinery, and a variety of other sources.
2. Assessing the risks associated with a hazard – Risk is judged based on its severity and likelihood (ranging from risks that are “extremely improbable” and of “negligible” threat, to ones that are “frequent” and “catastrophic”). These assessments should form a formal “Risk Assessment”.
3. Continued Risk Control – You can’t eliminate all risk, but you can judge what risks are “acceptable” by using your risk assessments. If risks are not acceptable, you need to reduce or mitigate them. We’ll discuss some examples of risk mitigation later in this article.
Safety Assurance
Safety Assurance (SA) is the process of continued risk monitoring.
It’s not uncommon for organisations to create risk assessments and then forget about them. so continued assurance is important. Safety assurance highlights the importance of continuous checks, modifications and improvements of risk management solutions.
With Safety Assurance, it’s important to give your employees the tools they need to highlight and report risk. Dynamic Risk Assessments (which allow workers to create and modify risk assessments as they work) can be part of this.
More top-down audits and investigations can be part of this. Standards can easily slip over time, and former solutions can prove insufficient, so regular check-ins are important.
Safety Promotion & Safety Culture
Safety Promotion (or Safety Culture) focuses on promoting and improving safety management systems across your business or organisation.
Safety Promotion may include:
• Formal training, like a course on dynamic risk assessments
• Knowledge sharing, such as supporting more senior workers to share lessons they’ve learnt, or providing a platform where workers can request improvements or note hazards.
• Improvements to the safety culture. This may include taking time to explain new processes and why they’re important. You could also put up posters reminding workers of their responsibilities and who to go to if they have any concerns.
Remember, a lot of workers worry that “health and safety” might negatively affect their efficiency. An important part of Safety Culture, therefore, is reminding staff that these ideas and practices matter, and are worth taking time on –and that they won’t be penalised for sticking to them.
Safety Management Systems (SMS) provide a structured way for organisations to manage occupational health and safety. From safety policy and risk management to ongoing assurance and culture promotion, SMS frameworks aim to make workplaces safer across industries like construction, energy, and healthcare. Many companies are exploring tools to simplify documentation, reporting hazards, and training staff. Some even integrate software solutions to track risks more efficiently solutions similar to those offered by Impress Solutions.
Safety Management Software and Technology
How you implement your safety management system will depend on your organisation, your type of work, and how you operate.
As you go through the Safety Management process, however, you may find that both the system itself –and the issues it highlights– may require new technological investments.
None of the SMS guidelines will specify that organisations require a certain solution. It’s up to you to figure out what investments are right for you.
Safety Management Software –communication and documentation
As mentioned, communication and documentation are vital parts of a successful Safety Management System.
It’s important to provide user-friendly, dependable ways for workers to highlight hazards, discuss risks, and understand the latest organisational guidance.
When using technologies to complement your Safety Promotion, try to find a solution that works for both workers and management. For instance, if your workers all chat via group texts, you may find that communication levels are high, but that important information can easily be lost.
With simple, no-cost or low-cost communication tools like Slack or Teams, you can set up specific channels for workers to share important safety information, and tag the relevant managers.
You may want to go a step further and seek out a professional, dedicated “Safety Management Software” which can organise your safety documents, allow users to document hazards from an app, and access relevant safety information.
