The following descriptions of excellence have been set for each of the main areas of an effective SMS:
- Health and safety policy and leadership
- Organizing for control and communication
- Securing cooperation, competence, and development of employees at all levels
- Planning and implementation of risk controls through co-ordinated management arrangements
- Monitoring, reviewing, and auditing to provide effective governance, management, and supervision
1) HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY AND LEADERSHIP
- The organization’s policies are VISIONARY, based on solid evidence of what the organization can achieve, and promote a CONSISTENT APPROACH to health and safety at ALL LEVELS OF THE ORGANIZATION.
- Leaders of the organization set and communicate clear direction that reinforces a CONSISTENT APPROACH to health and safety, shapes day-to-day activities, and strives to IMPROVE RISK CONTROL CONTINUOUSLY.
- Leaders at all levels of the organization CONSISTENTLY REINFORCE THE VALUES, ETHICS, AND CULTURE needed to meet their organization’s objectives.
- The leadership style throughout the organization is TRANSFORMATIONAL, as opposed to transactional.
Transformational leadership is akin to charismatic or visionary leadership. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate followers in ways that go beyond exchanges and rewards. Transformational leadership operates exceptionally well in close supervisory relationships, compared with more distant relationships, and closer supervision is often more typical in mental health settings. This close relationship may be typical of a supervisor-supervisee relationship and is also captured in the notion of “first-level leaders,” who are considered necessary because of their functional proximity to supervisees in an organizational setting. Transformational leadership is thought to increase the follower’s intrinsic motivation by expressing the value and importance of the leader’s goals.
In contrast, transactional leadership is based more on “exchanges” between the leader and follower, in which followers are rewarded for meeting specific goals or performance criteria. Rewards and positive reinforcement are provided or mediated by the leader. Thus transactional leadership is more practical because of its emphasis on meeting specific targets or objectives. An effective transactional leader can recognize and reward followers’ accomplishments promptly. However, subordinates of transactional leaders are not necessarily expected to think innovatively and may be monitored on the basis of predetermined criteria. Poor transactional leaders may be less likely to anticipate problems and intervene before problems come to the fore, whereas more effective transactional leaders take appropriate action in a timely manner.
2) ORGANIZING FOR CONTROL AND COMMUNICATION
- The organization is structured to help implement its policies as efficiently as possible.
- There is a clear understanding of how each person’s role affects the organization’s ability to achieve specific goals and overall objectives.
- The organization provides the framework for using people, plant, and processes successfully.
- Communications up, down, and across the organization are highly effective.
- Communications from management should be appropriate for the target audience. The right message should be received
- at the right time,
- by the right people, and
- through the appropriate channels.
3) SECURING COOPERATION, COMPETENCE, AND DEVELOPMENT OF EMPLOYEES AT ALL LEVELS
- The organization understands the competencies (knowledge, skills, experience, and abilities) needed to work effectively, efficiently, and safely with the correct number of people, in the right place, at the right time, and with the right competence.
- Recruitment, selection, training, and continued development focus on meeting the organization’s objectives.
- Employees ACTIVELY DEVELOP PROCESSES and make the business successful and safe.
- Trade unions and employee representatives are RECOGNIZED AS ESSENTIAL MEANS OF EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT.
4) PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RISK CONTROLS THROUGH CO-ORDINATED MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS
- Organizations SYSTEMATICALLY IMPLEMENT PROCESSES to ensure that the plant, people, and processes are fully used, CONTINUALLY IMPROVING EFFECTIVENESS, EFFICIENCY, AND SAFETY to achieve the organization’s objectives.
5) MONITORING, REVIEWING, AND AUDITING TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT, AND SUPERVISION
- Monitoring is important to the organization’s management arrangements at all levels.
- PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND AUDIT PROGRAMS are used to continually encourage everyone to achieve the organization’s objectives and reduce risk to the business.
- Variations from expected outcomes are reviewed to UNDERSTAND WHERE THE ORGANIZATION IS FAILING and what corrective actions are necessary, to restore and improve performance.
- The organization actively seeks opportunities to identify best practices within and from others across the rail industry.
Source: RM3, 2019 – The Risk Management Maturity Model (UK’s HSE)
