Earlier this year, I wrote about using the old ANSI/ASSE Z590.2-2003 (R2012) Criteria for Establishing the Scope and Functions of the Professional Safety Position standard when establishing the scope, function, role(s), and responsibilities of the organization’s safety professionals. This older standard does an excellent job of keeping things simple and provides a nice framework from which to build from. But, like with all positions within organizations, things change, and like I always say, “safety ain’t what it used to be.” Now we have ISO 45001, and it helps explain the need to DEFINE and QUANTIFY the scope, function, role(s), and responsibilities of the organization’s safety professionals a bit further and with more detail.
For the SMS to be effective and deliver its intended outcomes, responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles within the SMS must be:
- assigned by top management, and
- understood within the entire organization
It is essential to emphasize that although authority can be delegated, the overall responsibility and accountability for the SMS remains with top management.
Top management should:
- identify who needs to do what concerning the SMS, including regulatory requirements and making sure workers are aware of their responsibilities and authority;
- ensure there is clarity of responsibilities at the interfaces between different functions (e.g., between departments, between different levels of management, between workers, between the organization and contractors, between the organization and its neighbors);
- assign the responsibility and authority for reporting on the performance of the OH&S management system to top management in, for example, management meetings, reports, key performance indicators, and reviews.
In some organizations, there can be a limited number of people with the required competence to carry out the required tasks. In such situations, it can be helpful to plan for sharing roles and responsibilities. Such plans are also valuable during holidays when managers are away from the facility or in cases of incidents or illness.
The top management has to determine how to communicate the assigned responsibilities and authorities of relevant roles within the OH&S management system. This can be done through relevant documented information (e.g., procedures, instructions, job/project/task descriptions, training/induction packages), meeting updates, electronic or face-to-face team communication, or a combination of approaches.
