Safety Management Systems

Safety Management Systems , Safety management systems (SMS) are a key element of any workplace. Employers have a duty of care and a legal oblation to protect those on their premises from harm. The way that safety is implemented needs to be in compliance with local regulations or legislation and can also vary dependant upon the industry and the inherent risks that are associated with that industry (Duijm et al, 2008). There are many reasons that safety management systems should be implemented. Health and safety is an aspect of business that only comes to public attention when there is a breach, resulting in the potential of a small mistake bring down a company. There are many examples of health and safety breaches resulting in commercial costs as well as the human or environmental costs. One example may be the ill fated ferry company Townsend-Thoresen, when safety procedures were not followed on the Herald of Free Enterprise and it sunk with many death just after leaving the Port at Zebrugge. The commercial impact was that the name TownsendThoresen was so strongly associated with the image of the disaster the company had to change names and anon operates under the parent company name P&O. Without the apparent change of identity the company was likely to fail. This is an extreme example, but indicates the importance of health and safety procedure and systems to ensure those procedures, to prevent an incident that can result in harm to life and bad publicity that could bring down a company. Other major health and safety disasters include Piper Alpha, and Chernobyl (The Engineer, 1991). To consider the role and compare different safety management systems it is important to first look at what sho