Many reputable engineering or public services companies employ safety management systems, and these latter are of great variety: Safety Management System, ISO Management Systems including Quality, Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), Environmental Management System (EMS) etc. In addition, some industries—like oil, aviation, rail, maritime and nuclear—still have to comply with other safety systems. No doubt, these companies have either been ISO certified by an accredited organisation or recognised by some international organisations. To meet different safety requirements, these companies carry out audits, both internal and external, to ascertain whether all the safety procedures and measures are being properly implemented. Some companies have more than two safety management audits throughout a year on the supposition that, after a few rounds of such audits, the possibility of serious industrial accidents or fatal incidents should be minimised. Unfortunately, recent statistics for fatal incidents across industries have told us a different story.
As a part-time ISO EMS Lead Auditor over the decades, a question always springs to my mind whenever I hear about some fatal incidents: Have these safety management systems failed to reduce the occurrence of incidents and enhance safety performance? What are the possible ways of enhancing a company’s safety systems? I would like to share my humble views with you to enhance safety on site:
- CONTRACT with the subcontractors for all high risk works as identified in the Risk Assessment in the safety management systems to be strictly followed the management control, i.e. Plan, Do, Check and Act of the company, not merely complying with the local ordinances.
- Before beginning high-risk work, the Registered Safety Officer (RSO) or safety engineer SHOULD ASK the responsible subcontractor workers what safety precautions would do INSTEAD OF TELLING them what to do.
- DON’T let the ISO Management Systems or other safety management systems remain A PAPER SYSTEM only.
- IN-PROCESS CONTROL must be exercised.
Last but not least, the value of empowerment does not mean that a company can escape its accountability if any serious incidents have occurred.
This article is contributed by Ir Paul Chan with the coordination of the Safety Specialist Committee.