What are the best ways to improve safety management in a complex organization?

In my experience, improving safety management in a complex organization involves clear leadership commitment, well-communicated policies, thorough employee training, fostering a strong safety culture, continuous improvement, emergency preparedness, regular audits, technological investment, safety committees, and regulatory compliance.

The best and practical way to improve safety management in an complex organization is engaging in dialogue with the management and sharing the insight about the moral,legal and financial losses or consequences which an organization may have to face for not adhering to safe work practices and statutory compliances. A HSE advisor responsible for the implementation of safety management system for an organization must be very eloquent in explaining the strategies in an impactful and convincing manner to the top management and must lead with statistics while explaining the strategies. After all safety is everybody's responsibility, so a collaborative approach for safety must be adopted by any organizations for a sustainable safety culture.

You must listen and adapt to your specific audience. Listen to their needs. Examine their culture. Work together to find solutions.

An insightful overview of the crucial first step in improving safety management. The emphasis on diverse evaluation tools ensures a thorough understanding of current practices. Benchmarking against industry standards adds a competitive edge. Stressing the need for realistic, measurable goals aligns well with fostering a proactive safety culture. Overall, a well-rounded approach to laying the foundation for an effective safety management system.

I think safety has to start from the top. Unless the senior leadership take a serious interest and puts in the adequate resources, manages & reviews, with accountability and responsibility given on each employee, work place safety will be always be a discussion. Create that atmosphere first and then put the necessary resources to put drive the safety initiative ....things will change and safety will become the first priority.....

En matière de prévention, il est crucial d’éviter l’improvisation. À ce stade, l’élément essentiel consiste à définir clairement les rôles et responsabilités de tous les intervenants. Par la suite, il est nécessaire de former chaque intervenant de manière à ce qu’il maîtrise parfaitement son rôle.

Make safety a top level c-suite performance metric. If safety does not start at the top in a complex organisation it will not emerge organically on the shop floor. Vision and values will get you so far, but unless safety is baked into top-down measures of success and performance it will eventually lose out to the things that are.

Since long Safety Management considered job of Safety professional or may be one-two more personal. With changing scenarios, Safety Management is evolving, and involvement from function started. Safety is applicable to all function/section, everyone need safety, be in factory, office, road or home. With new guidelines more clarity is coming, as per ISO 45001:2018, internal & external stakeholders & their need & expectation need to be identified. All stakeholders (complete value chain) add lot of value to establish, develop, implement & maintain Safety Management System. It is imperative to identify the hazard, risk & opportunity in every value chain partner.

A must! Survey you organizations functionally areas , ask the Q…..do we have a just culture? The majority will be able to muddle through this Q….others won’t have a clue….several you will find will not only understand the Q but will show a passion for safety….those are your change agents! Feed them and turn them loose!

Concientizar o concienciar es un verbo casi que imposible de evaluar, pero que en mi opinión aporta muchísimo valor al sistema de gestión, si se logra que cada miembro de la compañía sin importar su posición en la misma, ejecute de manera consciente sus deberes con el sistema, se cuenta con gran parte del trabajo hecho. Que difícil es convencer a alguien de que la seguridad y la salud son importantes cuando solo se ven números para evaluar gestión.

Two implementing practices are surely winners for me. Regulatory guidance is important, they set a foundation however safe partices are sustained by people and what they do in the organisation. Here are some crucial practices that are sometimes shadowed by technical methods: - an ability to listen. Frontline people are the eyes and ears of the management system. Dedicate time and create the right space for active listening. Be it during audits/inspections, hazard analysis, and casual encounters. - share the data collected by the reporting system. Communicating this information regularly helps team leaders to make informed decisions. Also raising awareness amongst the team members. With that said, practices need to evolve with time too

Las normas de gestión aportan una guía, orden y la posibilidad de establecer un sistema de gestión en la medida que exista coherencia entre los registros y los hechos. Existen organizaciones que promocionan sus sistemas de gestión, y a la hora de revisar ¨in situ¨la gestión propiamente dicha, nos encontramos con el mero cumplimiento de documentos firmados sin el debido sustento. Apariencia no, Disciplina profesional si. Hagamos lo que decimos con o sin sistema de gestión. Establezcamos la rigurosidad técnica y la exigencia profesional de que sólo existe una forma segura de hacer las cosas. Reconozcamos los esfuerzos, motivemos. La corrección debe ser en privado, no fomentemos el desaliento como efecto residual y contrario al objetivo.

If you want to improve safety management, you must give safety targets to all managers and follow these targets. You should increase participation by rewarding achievements and achieve the goals mentioned in the article.

Most organisations focus on the outside beauty than the skeleton which is the core. The outer beauty I refer to is the ISO Certifications, fancy paperwork and difficult procedures. THE core skeleton is the actual things we do on ground. An honest tool box talk, an interesting and engaging training session or a pat on the back for a good and safe job completion.

Evaluating and monitoring safety progress is critical to safeguarding employees' well-being and ensuring the overall effectiveness of safety initiatives within an organization. Deming's Cycle PDCA applies to every aspect of life. Similarly, it is said, "The thing can be measured; can be managed". In every ISO Management system, monitoring and evaluation are addressed very clearly. Safety Management is not one-day activity, it is a continual process with review of Safety Matrix, Safety Audits/inspection, Incident reporting and analysis. Safety Management is an ongoing process with commitment & vigilance from Top Management.

Metrics matter! Tracking safety performance metrics provides a clear picture of where you stand and where you need to focus your efforts for ongoing improvement.

He aquí la importancia de los datos, y no me refiero solo a leer estadística y tomar decisiones, me refiero a la pertinencia de los datos que se analizan y sus fuentes, intervenir comportamiento humano cuando todas las observaciones arrojan comportamientos seguros es imposible, la muestra de esto es que los accidentes ocurren y las observaciones son perfectas. El anterior es sólo un ejemplo de lo que puede suceder y las decisiones que se pueden llegar a tomar sobre esta mala data.

Integrate Safety Objectives into Business Objectives or KPIs. If not, any amount of assessment on System performance will not yield improvement. The system improvement initiatives should be able to answer the question 'what is in it for me?' covering all the layers of the organisation... that will drive the engagement and hence improvement...

Safety must start from top to grassroot level. If top management is not involved, the desired results may not be achieved. This usually not followed which is why inspite of all safeguards accidents continue to happen.

A clever man learns from his own mistakes, but a wise man learns from others' mistakes. In Safety Management, learning of best practices, from incident is very important. With the best of our skill, knowledge & and experience, we all are developing the Best Safety practices & and implementing them as needed. Even after lot of efforts, no single organization can claim 100% accident-free unit. We are bringing all hazards to AALARP level, to make our process safe & and secure. However learning from other accidents, conferences, and benchmarking are a few practices that organizations are adopting to improve Safety Culture. These learnings must be communicated to associates & and implementation must be checked to avoid occurrence of accidents.

Strength of safety management system is the courage to share the mistakes. Readiness of an organisation to share bad messages is the stepping stone for safety improvement

Que importante conocer y valorar la experiencia de los demás, escuchar y atender sugerencias de personas con más experiencias y conocimientos es invaluable.

To improve by learning from others, you should establish networks with industry peers, attend conferences, and participate in knowledge-sharing forums to exchange best practices and lessons learned. Conducting benchmarking exercises to compare safety performance against industry leaders and identify areas for improvement. Finally implementing a culture of continuous learning and adaptation by integrating external insights into safety policies, procedures, and training programs to enhance organizational resilience and effectiveness.

Aprender com outras organizações e especialistas pode trazer valiosos insights e ajudar a aprimorar seu sistema de gestão de segurança. Aqui estão algumas estratégias para aproveitar essas oportunidades: Aconselhamento Externo e Assistência: Consultores e Especialistas: Contrate consultores de segurança ou especialistas na área que possam avaliar seu sistema de gestão de segurança e fornecer recomendações personalizadas com base em suas necessidades e desafios específicos.

Absolutely! Learning from others is like having a shortcut to success. Don't reinvent the wheel—tap into the wealth of knowledge and experiences that others in your industry have gained.

Keep pushing yourself and your location's management team to look for new solutions; utilize the Hierarchy of Controls when possible, and don't just fall into comfortable solutions that have gotten you there before. Look for a new approach that keeps you from having to go back to the same old tired options. Finding new is where leveraging the front line folks for their specialized knowledge in the rote day to day.

Allocate sufficient resources, including funding, personnel, and technology, to support safety initiatives and improvements. Foster an organizational culture where safety is embedded in every activity. This requires continuous reinforcement of the importance of safety, promoting open communication, and encouraging reporting of safety concerns without fear of retribution. Ensure that all staff are adequately trained and qualified in their roles. Ensure compliance with all relevant safety regulations and standards. Stay updated with regulatory changes and best practices in the industry. Define clear lines of responsibility for safety. Ensure that all employees understand their roles and responsibilities in maintaining safety.

Safety management in a complex organization is an ongoing process that requires commitment, dedication, and a systematic approach. It's essential to create a culture where safety is everyone's responsibility and continually strive for improvement.

Ask yourself if you know what you are trying to achieve, what that looks like and how you're going to get there. If your organisation cannot begin to understand the aim of safety management then how can you manage it? All the tools in the world will solve nothing if you don't know what the point is.

I’d explore complex systems theory, which delves into how component interactions yield complex behaviors and macro-level patterns like adaptation and evolution. It offers a framework for examining system structures, behaviors, and interplays, incorporating emergent phenomena and self-organization, applicable to understanding safety management. However, conventional safety views often adopt a linear, reductionist approach, focusing on control measures to prevent impacts. My approach suggests a shift towards concepts of Anti-fragility or Graceful Extensibility, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of safety within complex systems.

The best way to manage the the complexity is to first understand and appreciate WHO has the innate talent potential to actually work with the level of complexity required otherwise you are building on quick sand rather than cement. By aligning complexity and complexity potential we remove over promotion, reduce burn out and poor mental wellbeing, reduce employee churn, toxicity and bullying. Get the people right from day one and then monitor their mental health throughout a project and we start to build success into every project whilst keeping people (and those around them, including loved ones at home) safe in the process.