SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS



            It is recognized that the safe functionary of an establishment depends on its overall management. Within this overall management system, the safe operation of an establishment requires the implementation of a system of structures, responsibilities and procedures, with the appropriate resources and technological solution available. This system according to (Brazien 1994) is known as the safety management (SMS).

Safety management system is a constituent part of the overall management system of the establishment, which may in turn be dependent on a management system developed for a large entity such as a company or group of companies. This is particularly important which it comes to detailed implementation of the guidelines set out here; the approach to implementation will and should differ from company to company reflecting the overall management philosophy, system, and culture as appropriate for the workforce and process technology involved (cooper 1998) Clarke, (1997) in his contribution said that safety management system many also involves integration with a management system which addresses other matters, such as the health of workers, the environment, quality, etc according to him, it is possible to develop a safety management system by extending the scope of an existing management system, but it will be incumlrent upon the operator to ensure, and demonstrate where necessary, that the management system has been fully developed to Eovor major – accident controls and meets the requirements of the directives. Element of safety management system 

Organization and Personal
The safety management system should reflect the top-down commitment and the safety culture of the operators organization, translated into the necessary resources and direct responsibilities of personnel involved in the management of major hazards at all levels in the organization. The operation should identify the stills and abilities needed by such personnel, and ensure their provision (Booth and lee 1995).
The role, responsibility, accountability, authority and interrelation of all personnel who manage, perform or verify work affecting safety should be defined, particularly for staff responsible for:
·                    The provision of resources, including human resources, for safety management system development and implementation.
·                    Action to ensure staff awareness of hazards, and compliance with the operator’s safety policy;
·                    Identification, recording and follow-up of corrective or improvement action;
·                    Control of abnormal situations, including emergences.  
·                    Identifying training needs, provision of training and evaluation of its effectiveness,
·                    Coordinating the implementation of the system and reporting to top management.  
In addition, the operators should ensure the involvement of employees, and where appropriate of contractors or others present at the establishment both in determining the safety policy and in its implementation. In particular the operator should ensure that contractors receive the necessary information and training to enable them be aware of the hazards involved, and to satisfy the safety policy. 

Hazard Identification and Evaluation     
Hazards identification and evaluation is part the issues that should be addressed by the safety management system.
The operator should develop and implement procedures to systematically identify and evaluate hazards arising from its activities, and from the substances and material handled or produced in them. The procedures used for the identification and evaluation of hazards should be formal, systematic, and critical. There should also be systematic procedures for definition of measures both for the prevention of incidents and for the mitigation of consequences.
The management system’ should include an assessment of the skills and knowledge required, including where appropriate a team approach in order to find the necessary combination and range of theoretical and practical knowledge to develop and implement appropriate procedures hazard identification and evaluation procedures should be applied to all relevant stages from conception through to decommissioning, including:
·                    Potential hazards arising from or identified in the course of planning, design, engineering construction, commissioning and development activities.
·                    The normal range of process operating condition hazards of routine operations and of non-routine situations, in particular start-up, maintenance, and shut – down;
·                    Incident and possible emergencies including those arising from component or material failure external events and human factors, including failing safety management system itself;
·                    Hazards of decommissioning abandonment, and disposal,
·                    Potential hazards from formal activities,
·                    External hazards including those arising from natural hazards (including abnormal temperatures, fire flood, earthquake, strong winds, tidal waves), from transport operation including loading and unloading, from neighboring activities, and from male violent or unauthorized action.         

Operation Control
The following issues should be addressed by the safety management system: operation control adoption and implementation of procedure and instruction for safety operation, including maintenance of plant, processes, equipment and temporary stoppages.
The operator-should prepare and keep up to date and readily available the information on process hazards and design and operational limits and controls coming from the hazard identification and risk evaluation procedures. Teased on these, documented procedures should be prepared and implemented to ensure safe design and operation of plant, processes equipment and storage facilities. In particularly these procedures should cover:
·                    Commissioning
·                    Start – up and normal operations, including test, maintenance and inspection
·                    Detection of and response to departures from normal operating condition.
·                    Temporary or special operations
·                    Operation under maintenance condition
·                    Emergency operation
·                    Decommissioning.    
Safety working practice should be defined for all activities relevant for operational safety. Procedures, instructions and methods of work should be developed in co-operation with the people who are required to follow them, and should be expressed in a form understandable to them. The operator should ensure these procedures are implemented and provide the training necessary.
These written procedures should be made available to all staff responsible directly or indirectly for operation, and where appropriate to others involved such as maintenance staff. The should also be subject to periodic reveal both to ensure that they are current and accurate, and to ensure that they are actually followed. 

Management of Change
In the area of management of change, the issues to be considered are – adopting and implementation of procedures for planning modifications to, or the design of new installations, processes or storage faculties.
            The operator should adopt and implement management procedures for planning and controlling all changes in people, plant, processes and process variables material equipment procedures, software, design or external circumstances which are capable of affecting the control of major accident hazards. Juis approach should cover permanent, temporary and urgent operational changes, and should address:
·                    Definition of what constitutes a change
·                    Assignment of responsibility and authority for initiating change.
·                    Identification and documentation of the change proposed and its implementation
·                    Identification and analysis where appropriate of any safety implications of the change proposed identification explanation, where appropriate documentation, and implementation of the safety measures deemed appropriate including information and training requirements, as well as the necessary changes to operation procedure.
·                    Definition and implementation of appropriate post – change revenue procedure and corrective mechanisms, and subsequent monitoring.
Added that management of change must also be applied during the design and construction of mean installations, processes and storage facilities.
Planning for emergencies information the safety management information system include the procedures necessary to ensure that an adequate emergency plan is developed, adopted, implemented, reviewed, tested, and where necessary revised and updated. These procedures will define the skills and abilities required, including where appropriate a team approach in order to find the necessary combination of theoretical and practical knowledge. The operator should develop and maintain procedures to identify, by systematic analysis starting from the hazard identification process foreseeable emergencies arising from or in connection with its activities, and to record and keep up to date the result of this analysis. Plans to respond to such potential emergencies should be prepared, and arrangements for testing and review on regular basis should be included within the safety management system. The procedure should cover the necessary arrangements for communication of the plans to all those likely to be affected by an emergency. 

Monitoring Performance                            
The issues to be addressed in this of safety management system are adopting and implementation of procedures for the origin the operator should define the responsibility for initiating investigation and corrective action in the event of non-compliance with any part of the safety management system this should include the particular revision where necessary of procedures or systems to prevent recurrence. The information from performance monitoring should also be a significant in out to the processes of audit and review. Assessment of compliance with the objectives set by the operation major accident prevention policy and safe management system, and the mechanisms for investigation and taking corrective action in case of non-compliance. The procedures should cover the operators system for reporting major accidents or near misses, particularly those involving failure of protective measures, and their investigation and follow-up on the basis of lessons learnt.
The operator should maintain procedures to ensure that safety performance can be monitored and compared with the safety objectives defined. This should include determining weather plans and objectives are being achieved, and catheter arrangements to control risks are being implemented before an incident or accident occurs (active monitoring) as well as the reporting and investigation of failures which have resulted incidents or accident (reactive monitoring).
Active monitoring should include inspections of safety critical plant, equipment and instrumentation as we as assessment of compliance with training, instructions and safe working practices.
Reactive monitoring requires an effective system for reporting incidents and accidents and an investigation system which identifies not only the immediate causes but also any underlying failures which let to the event. It should: pay particular attention to cases of failure of protective measures (including operational and management failures), and should include investigation, analysis, and follow-up (including transfer of information to personal involved) to ensure that the lessons learnt are applied to future operation.

Audit and Review   
The terms “audit” and “review” are used differently according to (Coyle 1995). An audit is intended to ensure that the organization, process, and procedures as defined and as actually carried out all consistent with the safety management system; it should be carried out by people who are sufficiently independent from the operational management of the unit being audited to ensure that their assessment is objective. A review is a more fundamental study of whether the safety management system is appropriate to fulfil the operator’s policy and objectives, and may extend to considering weather the policy and objectives should themselves be modified.
In addition to the routine monitoring of performance the operator should carry out periodic audits of its safety management system confirms to requirements, both external and those of the operators. The result of these audits should be used to decide what improvement should be made to the result of the safety management system and their implementation for this purpose the operator should adopt and implement an audit plan which should be reviewed at appropriate intervals. The issues to be defined pry the plan are:
·                    The area and activities to be audited
·                    The frequency of audits for each are concerned
·                    The responsibility for each audit;
·                    The resources and personnel required for each audit, bearing in mind the need for expertise, operational independence, and measurements and oberservation
·                    The procedures for reporting audit findings;
·                    The follow-up procedures.  
In the other hand, senior management should, at appropriate intervals, review the operator’s overall safety policy and strategy for the control of major accident hazards, and all aspects of the safety management system to ensure its consistency with these. This review should also address the allocation of resources for safety management system implementation, and should consider changes in the organization as well as those in technology standards, and legislation.
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