What is the use of Management System, and Reasons behind Introduction of a Health and Safety Management System in an organization?

What is the use of Management System, and Reasons behind Introduction of a Health and Safety Management System in an Organization?

What is a Management System?

A Management System is defined as;

A Management System is set of policies, processes, and procedures used by an organization to ensure the required tasks are performed and targets or objectives are achieved. 

It should be remembered that all Management Systems whether they are designed to manage Health and Safety or any other function, have the same common elements;

1. Plan - Implies having a considered policy and procedures. 
2. Do - Concerns with the arrangements for putting the plans into practice.
3. Check - It refers to checking and monitoring the performance.
4. Act - Performance assessed in Check should be reviewed and necessary corrections must be made.

Most organizations have a management system for 1 function or managing multiple functions at a time. 

When it comes to managing health and safety at the workplace, the best sources of guidance are;

1. ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System
2. HSG 65 Managing for Health and Safety (2013)

The one characteristic of these management systems is that they view the organization as a system with Inputs, Processes, and Outputs. It is like a Computer system where "Print Key" on a keyboard is pressed and the given command is processed and as a result, we get output in printed form. 

The PDCA cycle is an ongoing process that never stops and continuously keeps improving. 

How does HSG65 Managing for Health and Safety works?

The General Principle and Application of HSG65 is described in detail below;

1: Plan

1. Policy
2. Planning

Follow Activities are carried out during PLAN:

•  Gap Analysis - The comparison between the current position and where you need to be (target position):
• Policy and Planning to establish;
• What is the target or what organization have to achieve?
• Who will be responsible to achieve the target?
• How to achieve the target?
• How to measure success?
• Establishment of procedure to measure performance (leading and lagging indicators)

2: Do

1. Risk Profiling
2. Organizing 
3. Plans Implementation

Following activities are done in DO:

• Identification and profiling of the risks:
• Risk Assessment.
• Identification of elements with the potential to cause harm at the workplace.
• Identify who can be harmed and how?
• Decide controls to mitigate the risk level and protect victims.
• Organize the activities to deliver the plan:
• Involve workers and communicate.
• Provide adequate resources, training, information including competent advice.
• Implement the plans:
• Deciding Preventive and Protective Measures. 
• Implement the decided Preventive and Protective Measures.
• Training, Instruction, Guidance, Supervision to ensure everyone is competent in carrying out their work.
• Supervision to ensure that arrangements made in the earlier stage are followed.

3: Check

1. Measuring Performance of the organization using Leading and Lagging Indicators
2. Carry out Incident Investigations, Identify Root Causes

The following activities are performed in CHECK:

• Measure performance of the organization:
• Assess how well risk is being controlled
• Investigate the root causes of the accidents, incidents, near misses, etc.

4: Act

1. Review Performance
2. Learn from lessons

The following activities are performed in the ACT:

• Review your performance 
• Learn from accidents and incidents; ill-health data, errors, and relevant experience including from other organizations (carryout benchmarking). 
• Re-visit plans, policy documents, and risk assessments to see if they need updating.
• Take corrective action on lessons learned, including from audits, inspection reports, and incident reports.

What kind of Issues a Management System Addresses?

Most of the duties can't be delegated, day-to-day activities can be and a management system provides a framework to coordinate these activities to deliver the agreed objectives.

The following are key issues that a health and safety management system is required to deliver;

1. Appropriate Allocation of Resources
2. Appropriate Allocation of Responsibilities
3. Setting and Monitoring Performance Standards
4. Feedback and Implementation of Corrective Actions