OH&S Safety Management System

All you need to know about building an effective Safety Management System

by Craig Salter Director Action OHS Consulting

What is a Safety Management System (SMS, also known as an Occupational Health and Safety Management System or OHSMS)?

A SMS is a set of policies, procedures, and plans that systematically manages the health and safety of your workplace. It covers crucial organisational structures and reporting lines, key accountabilities, and all your health and safety policies and procedures. The great thing about safety management systems is that they are not onesize-fits-all. Therefore, they are scalable and can be tailored specifically to the size and complexity of your workplace.

Why do you need a Safety Management System?

A well-implemented SMS helps minimise the risk of injury and illness due to workplace operations, and that should be front of mind for any business. Luckily, you shouldn’t have to start from scratch. Your organisation most likely has some elements of a SMS already in place. The key is to link these elements into a coordinated overall system to improve work health and safety performance.

Key components of a Safety Management System

The universally accepted framework for SMSs includes the main components listed below. These represent the minimum requirements that need to be met when implementing your system for it to be recognised as a Safety Management System: l Safety policy and objectives l Management commitment and responsibility l Safety accountabilities “A well-implemented SMS helps minimise the risk of injury and illness due to workplace operations, and that should be front of mind for any business.

l Appointment of key safety personnel l Coordination of emergency response planning l Safety Management System documentation l Safety risk management l Hazard identification l Risk assessment and mitigation l Safety assurance l Safety performance monitoring and measurement l The management of change l Continuous improvement of the Safety Management System l Safety promotion l Training and education l Safety communication

What is ISO 45001?

ISO 45001 is an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. Its goal is the reduction of occupational injuries and diseases, including promoting and protecting physical and mental health. An ISO 45001 certification can be obtained by any organisation regardless of its size, type and nature.

Why make building your Safety Management System a focus?

When implemented, building and implementing a Safety Management System has immense value. The obvious positive outcome is to the health and wellbeing of your Craig is the Director of Action OHS Consulting, specialists in OHS problem solving and innovation.

employees. These benefits should also be kept front of mind to keep up the momentum when establishing your Safety Management System: l You will improve your organisation’s ability to respond to regulatory compliance issues l You will reduce the overall costs of incidents l You will minimise downtime and the costs of disruption to operations l You will reduce the cost of insurance premiums and risk of prosecution l You will reduce absenteeism and employee turnover rates l You may influence potential customers and clients to select you over your competitors as you demonstrate that you are concerned about your social and moral responsibilities

By taking action and organising a coordinated and holistic system to improve your workplace health and safety performance, your business and your employees are the real winners. By getting the setup right, the benefits to health and safety, as well as to other areas of your operations, are sure to follow. l

The OH&S Help Desk has been established by the SSAA to support its members. This advisory service is free. Free call 1800 067 313 (Australia); 0800 444 356 (New Zealand); or email admin@selfstorage.com.au.