SMS- Safety Management System

SMS- Safety Management System

Breaking away from my previous trends of writing about general management technique, today  I want to discuss something different yet most important- Safety Management System. It is 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.

Let us understand this with a situation.

Three men Ram, Shyam and Raman have to cross a valley which is more than one step of the member and less than two steps. They started thinking of ways they can cross valley.

Ram’s Solution: He came with the idea to use a long rod with sufficient length. He suggested that they attempt to cross the gap with everyone holding on to the rod. As soon as someone is on the gap, he would hang from the rod and the other two members would take his weight. This way they can cross the gap. 

Valley Crossing method as per Ram

Shyam’s Opinon

Shyam analysed the solution proposed by Ram quickly and he felt that this way the load distribution was effectively managed. Also, the role of one will depend on the role of another. He came up with the following chart showing various stages when each will face fully safe, half safe and fully unsafe conditions.

He also told that his solutions relied on following concepts:

TEAM WORK-   The essence of Team Work lies in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of every team member and utilizing them to achieve optimum efficiency.

TRUST- Mutual trust and belief are the foundation of a good team.

DISTRIBUTIVE LEADERSHIP- Leadership and team work aren’t two separate entities. Collective leadership from the team delivers optimum results.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY Every team member is accountable and responsible for the job at hand.

INNOVATION- There has to be openness in terms of new ideas and suggestion

COMMUNICATION- A team member must clearly understand what his fellow team members are up to. He should be very clear about his roles and responsibilities in the team. It is the duty of the team leader to delegate responsibilities as per the interest and specializations of the team members without imposing things on them. Never confuse any employee.

But Raman was not satisfied with the solution proposed. He differed in the view that in spite of it being a good method, it still involves a lot of risk to them. Instead he came with an even better solution. He suggested that instead of using rod and hanging on to it while crossing, they should use a plank which can be placed down and can be used for crossing with minimum risk involved.

Crossing using plank instead of Rod

He also made comparison between the two methods as follows:

Comparison between two Solutions

Ram Method ( Old Process)	Raman Method (New Process)
Relatively High Risk	Very Low Risk
Too much dependent on Trust among people	Less Dependency
Training was needed	No training required
Time Consuming	Less Time taking
Physical strength is important	Physical strength not needed

After listening to Raman’s viewpoint all agreed that his solutions included Safety Management System Techniques which is in the interest of all of them. They all readily agreed and decided that they will use a plank so that threat to their life becomes 0........

 This is better Management.