Safety Management System (SMS) is a term used to refer to a comprehensive business management system designed to manage occupational safety and health elements in the workplace.
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A SMS provides a systematic way to identify hazards and control risks while maintaining assurance that these risk controls are effective.[1] SMS can be defined as:
...a businesslike approach to safety. It is a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process for managing safety risks. As with all management systems, a safety management system provides for goal setting, planning, and measuring performance. A safety management system is woven into the fabric of an organization. It becomes part of the culture, the way people do their jobs.[2]
For the purposes of defining safety management, safety can be defined as:
...the reduction of risk to a level that is as low as is reasonably practicable.
There are three imperatives for adopting a safety management system for a business - these are ethical, legal and financial.
There is an implied moral obligation placed on an employer to ensure that work activities and the place of work to be safe, there are legislative requirements defined in just about every jurisdiction on how this is to be achieved and there is a substantial body of research which shows that effective safety management (which is the reduction of risk in the workplace) can reduce the financial exposure of an organisation by reducing direct and indirect costs associated with accident and incidents.
To address these three important elements, an effective SMS should:
Since there are many models to choose from to outline the basic components of a safety management system, the one chosen here is the international standard promoted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In the ILO document ILO-OSH 2001 Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems, the safety management basic components are:
Although other SMS models use different terminology, the process and workflow for safety management systems is always the same;
There is a significant amount of detail within each of these sections and these should be examined in detail from the ILO-OSH Guidelines document.
A SMS is intended to act as a framework to allow an organisation, as a minimum, to meet its legal obligations under occupational health and safety law. The structure of a SMS is generally speaking, not of itself a legal requirement but it is an extremely effective tool to organise the myriad aspects of occupational safety and health (OSH) that can exist within an organisation, often to meet standards which exceed the minimum legal requirement.
A SMS is only as good as its implementation - effective safety management means that organisations need to ensure they are looking at all the risks within the organization as a single system, rather than having multiple, competing, ‘Safety Management Silos.’[3] If safety is not seen holistically, it can interfere with the prioritization of improvements or even result in safety issues being missed. For example, after an explosion in March 2005 at BP's Texas City Refinery (BP) the investigation concluded that the company had put too much emphasis on personal safety thus ignoring the safety of their processes.[4] The antidote to such silo thinking is the proper evaluation of all risks, a key aspect of an effective SMS.[5]
There are a number of industry sectors worldwide which have recognised the benefits of effective safety management. The regulatory authorities for these industries have developed safety management systems specific to their own industries and requirements, often backed up by regulation. Below are examples from different industry sectors from a number of varied worldwide locations.
The International Civil Aviation Organization has recommended that all aviation authorities implement SMS regulatory structures.[6] ICAO has provided resources to assist with implementation, including the ICAO Safety Management Manual. Unlike the traditional occupational safety focus of SMS, the ICAO focus is to use SMS for managing aviation safety. Id.
The United States has introduced SMS for airports through an advisory circular[7] and other guidance.[8]
The United States announced at the 2008 EASA/FAA/TC International Safety Conference that they would be developing regulations to implement SMS for repair stations, air carriers, and manufacturers. The FAA formed a rulemaking committee to address the implementation (known as the SMS ARC).[9] The SMS ARC reported its findings to the FAA on March 31, 2010. The Report recognizes that many of the elements of SMS already exist in the U.S. regulations, but that some elements do not yet exist.[10] A draft of what the US SMS rule might look like was proposed by one trade association that participated in the ARC.[11] Currently, the FAA is supporting voluntary pilot projects for SMS.[12]
The Federal Aviation Administration has also required that all FAA services and offices adopt a common Aviation Safety (AVS)Safety Management System (AVSSMS).[13] This is what ICAO calls a State Safety Program (SSP). An overview of the FAA approach to SMS may be found in the following PDF document.[14]
The Federal Aviation Administration published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the establishment of SMS for air carriers.[15] That NPRM explains that it is intended to serve as the foundation for rules that would later be applied to Part 135 operators, Part 145 repair stations and Part 21 manufacturers. Id. Several U.S. trade associations filed comments in response to the air carrier NPRM, including ASA[16] and MARPA.[17] Among these comments were arguments for developing separate SMS regulations for other certificate holders, in order to make sure that SM remains a usable tool for advancing safety (rather than a uniform but useless paperwork exercise). In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration has also filed a NPRM for SMS for airports,[18] which would be separate from the rules for SMS for air carriers (consistent with the arguments of the trade associations).
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is another organization that has adopted SMS. All international passenger ships and oil tankers, chemical tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and cargo ships of 500 gross tons or more are required to have a Safety Management System.[19] In the preamble to the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, the IMO states, “The cornerstone of good safety management is commitment from the top. In matters of safety and pollution prevention it is the commitment, competence, attitudes and motivation of individuals at all levels that determines the end result.”[20]
Transport Canada’s Rail Safety Directorate incorporated SMS into the rail industry in 2001. The Rail Safety Management System requirements are set out in the Railway Safety Management System Regulations.[21] The objectives of the Rail Safety Management System Regulations are to ensure that safety is given management time and corporate resources and that it is subject to performance measurement and monitoring on par with corporate financial and production goals.[22]
The effect of SMS in the rail industry has not been positive, as a 2006 Toronto Star review of Transportation Safety Board data indicated that rail accidents were soaring.[23] Critics have argued that this evidence should preclude the adoption of SMS in the aviation sector.[24] However, Transportation Safety Board data show that the accident rate in the rail industry has actually varied around the average over that 10-year period. Since the Toronto Star article was published, the accident rate has decreased. The Transportation Safety Board reported that “a total of 1,143 rail accidents were reported to the TSB in 2008, a 14% decrease from the 2007 total of 1,323 and an 18% decrease from the 2003-2007 average of 1,387” and also noted that, in 2008, rail incidents reported under the TSB mandatory reporting requirements reached a 26 year low of 215.[25]
'Alpinia' is a web-based Safety Management System solution enabling organizations to proactively improve safety (context) with a coordinated and comprehensive out-of-the-box set of processes built on top of the latest collaboration technology. Alpinia is designed to embrace and orchestrate all stand-alone safety management processes into one coherent structure to achieve a higher level of safety management system performance and maturity level. [26]
"SMS Pro™" is another Web-based SMS solution modeled after the ICAO four components (or pillars). These pillars are Safety Policy, Risk Management, Safety Assurance and Safety Promotion.
SMS Pro™ is among the most popular and cost effective solutions as of 2011. SMS Pro™ is popular because it is not flight operations specific and is incredibly flexible. Airlines can use SMS Pro™ in their vertical and horizontal business operations. Free versions of SMS Pro Lite are also available for smaller operators.
SMS Pro™ is considered the most complete solution on the market and has been in production since January 2008. SMS Pro™ is suitable for airlines, airports, maintenance repair and overhaul.