To some, there may not be much difference between leadership and management; however, there is a big difference between them.
Management is a formal, authorized function for ensuring that an organization operates efficiently and that work is completed in accordance with requirements, plans, and resources.
Leadership is the use of an individual’s capabilities and competencies to give direction to individuals and groups and influence their commitment to achieving the fundamental safety objective and to applying the fundamental safety principles by means of shared goals, values, and behavior.
Managers at ALL LEVELS need to be leaders in safety.
The senior management of the organization demonstrates leadership for safety by:
- Establishing, advocating, and adhering to an organizational approach to safety that stipulates that, as an overriding priority, issues relating to protection and safety receive the attention warranted by their significance
- Acknowledging that safety encompasses interactions between people, technology, and the organization
- Establishing behavioral expectations and fostering a strong safety culture;
- Establishing the acceptance of personal accountability in relation to safety on the part of all individuals in the organization and establishing those decisions taken at all levels take account of the priorities and responsibilities for safety
Managers at all levels in the organization, taking into account their duties, ensure that their leadership includes:
- Setting goals for safety that are consistent with the organization’s policy for safety, actively seeking information on safety performance within their area of responsibility, and demonstrating a commitment to improving safety performance
- Development of individual and institutional values and expectations for safety throughout the organization through their decisions, statements, and actions
- Ensuring that their actions serve to encourage the reporting of safety-related problems, to develop questioning and learning attitudes, and to correct acts or conditions that are adverse to safety
Managers at all levels in the organization:
- Shall encourage and support all individuals in achieving safety goals and performing their tasks safely
- Shall engage all individuals in enhancing safety performance
- Shall communicate clearly the basis for decisions relevant to safety
Senior management shall establish, apply, sustain, and continuously improve the safety management system to ensure safety.
- Senior management shall retain accountability for the management system even where individuals are assigned responsibility for coordinating the development, application, and maintenance of the safety management system
- Senior management shall be responsible for establishing a safety policy
Senior management shall set goals, strategies, plans, and objectives for the organization that is consistent with the organization’s safety policy.
- Goals, strategies, plans, and objectives for the organization shall be developed so that safety is not compromised by other priorities.
- Senior management shall ensure that measurable safety goals that are in line with these strategies, plans, and objectives are established at various levels in
the organization. - Senior management shall ensure that goals, strategies, and plans are periodically reviewed against the safety objectives and that actions are taken to address deviations.
