Ways to to Stuff Up an Ohsms

25 Ways to stuff up a Safety Management System

1 Lack of management commitment, leadership and drive from the top of the organisation.

2 Lack of understanding and implementation of sensible safety legislation.

3 Lack of understanding and implementation of common law principles.

4 Too much concentration on lag indicators such as the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate at the expense of leading indicators. Thinking minor personal damage is a good predictor of life-altering personal damage.

5 Not using the continuous improvement philosophy and other facets of Quality Management in your safety approach.

6 Lack of succinct paperwork. There is not much point in having detailed paperwork that is too much like hard work to read.

7 Using theory instead of real world approaches-Whatever you do reality test it with the workforce first.

8 Ignoring “When implementing change-Remember, people support what they create”

9 Not using face to face communications whenever possible. Research by Harvard professor T.J. Larkin suggests when communicating change with the workforce use the supervisor not senior management, use face to face communications and frame communications relevant to the immediate work area and processes.

10 Not using a needs analysis to guide all your actions.

11 Ignoring the simplicity not complexity rule.

12 Not creating an expectation for people at all levels to perform in safety.

13 Not developing goals, objectives, targets etc. for the Safety Management System.

14 Not using Learning Needs Analysis to guide conduct of learning. Not using Adult Learning Principles & Process to guide facilitation. Using lecture style presentations and Death by Power-Point.

15 Not training formal and informal leaders in Safety Leadership.

16 Not having regular audits of the Safety Management System.

17 Not practicing Emergency Response Plans.

18 Not having simple, succinct Safe Working Procedures, aim for 2 pages at the most, use...