Safety Management System

For the record, if you are new to the SAFTENG family, I despise the mantras “Safety is #1”, “Safety is our top priority”, etc.  It is a nice thing to say, and most of us know it is said often; but what does it mean?  My favorite example of how these mantras cause confusion, which…...

It took me several years to realize that a traditional OSH program is NOT a “safety management system.”  Like many workplaces, I always had a collection of written occupational safety and health programs placed into binders strategically located throughout the facility. Then, I had a separate PSM (and eventually an RMP) program that was a…...

The Campbell Institute, the National Safety Council center of excellence for environmental, health, and safety management is the leading authority on safety best practices. Members of the Campbell Institute Research & Knowledge subcommittee conducted a comparative analysis of ten award-winning organizations to identify best practices that are common within recognized world-class safety processes. One overarching…...

In the FAA NPRM posting on 1/11/23, we get a glimpse into the agency’s simplified approach to airlines managing safety with a Safety Management System (SMS).  The FAA’s Safety Management System (SMS) is composed of four (4) major components: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion The FAA offers some excellent explanations…...

There is one trait that we will all see and feel when were are in a facility that has figured out world-class safety; that is, they have figured out that a well-managed safety management system will not produce the desired results if the facility’s culture does not support it.  As I have said, world-class safety…...

In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required commercial airliners to develop a comprehensive SMS to improve safety for the flying public. Although the FAA has not required other revenue passenger-carrying operators to have one.  These  “other revenue passenger-carrying operators” include the cubs in AK that move hunters and fishermen around AK, the helicopter tours…...

Maybe I’m just old school, but is it just too much to ask for: a well written safety procedure, one that is written and analyzed with a safety pro and the worker(s) who do the actual work, that management will fully support the procedures everyday-everytime, including on holidays that fall on a Sunday, and employees…...

A comparison of the characteristics of active and latent failures suggests that avoiding active failures tends to drive down the frequency of events while finding and rectifying the results of latent failures tends to drive down the severity of events…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member?...

In occupational safety and health, there are a lot of opportunities for businesses to stumble and fall right out of the gate. Although many folks like to claim “anyone can do safety,” this myth drives these mistakes. Untrained/Uneducated persons are attempting to manage an OSH program and stumbling at step one, leaving hundreds/thousands of employees…...

The rate of recordable injuries in the electric power sector has declined steadily over the past decade; however, the rate of serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) has plateaued. Unfortunately, studying SIFs is a paradox. On one hand, SIFs are incredibly important and deserve significant resources for investigation. On the other, learning from these events and…...