When I first learned about the “management systems” approach to managing Occupational Safety and Health and Process Safety, I was taught to view them as a “spoked wheel.” This aligned with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, so it made perfect sense. And ever since, I have been teaching Safety Management System courses using the “spoked wheel” images. Below is my “Intro” to SMS I used as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati, teaching safety management and emergency management courses. It sets the stage (no pun intended) for why an SMS is needed and what it will visually look like when fully functional, and what it looks like in a broken/weakened state.
I hope others can use this model to teach their teams the fundamentals of developing, implementing, and managing safety via a SMS. Whether you are using OSHAs/EPAs Process Safety Management Systems or one more in line with Occupational Safety and Health or maybe even the Serious Injury & Fatality models, teaching the concept of an SMS using the “spoked wheel” image will help a lot of folks understand the concept of a CLOSED-LOOPED management system.
