The objective of an Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) is to incorporate safety into management and work practices at all levels, addressing all types of work and all types of hazards to ensure safety for the workers, the public, and the environment. An effective ISMS must address these principles and functions while considering the following:
- The planning and performance of all types of potentially hazardous work, including but not limited to the following: construction, operations, maintenance and decommissioning, as well as design, conceptual studies, environmental analyses, safety analyses, hazard reduction analyses, pollution prevention/waste minimization and risk analyses;
- All types of hazards, including chemical, occupational, environmental, electrical, transportation, etc.; and
- The identification, analysis, and control of hazards and the use of feedback for continuous improvement in defining, planning, and performing work
ISMS must take on a BALANCED approach between:
- Focus on Individual Behaviors
- Focus on the processes, procedures, tools and equipment used in the system
- Focus on Management
Dr. James Reason depicted this best with the following depiction:
