IOSH standards for great safety performance

What is a safety management system?

The Health and Safety Executive’s Managing for health and safety (HSG65) introduces the foundations for a good safety management system for any organisation. They include:

• setting and implementing policy and delegating responsibility
• identifying and assessing risk
• reducing risk and monitoring performance
• investigating incidents and learning from mistakes
• consulting with workers and engaging them in the control of risk.

A simple list, but one that raises four questions for safety professionals and organisations alike.

What is the most effective way to implement an effective safety management system in an organisation?

IOSH has captured this advice in its 10 principles for good occupational health and safety.  Success is reliant on knowing what to do and the most effective way of doing it. These principles guide professionals and organisations on the approach needed to ensure that safety management systems are well designed and effectively applied.

How can you tell if you are making progress and what should you do next?

One way to achieve this is to benchmark organisational performance and progress against IOSH’s model of safety (PDF 61.2KB).

Normally we have to be cautious with benchmarking. It can be difficult to find similar organisations to benchmark against, and even if you can there could be difficulty in comparing data.

Organisations often capture and categorise data differently. However, the IOSH model of safety maps the key stages of development against four levels of maturity, taking organisations from mere compliance to reaping the beneficial business rewards of going beyond compliance.

It provides descriptions of success levels and signals what needs to be achieved next. It provides a means of being able to describe any opportunities for improvement as well as where progress and achievement have already been made.

How can you be sure that the advice you are acting upon comes from a competent source?

By demanding IOSH qualifications and health and safety professionals that adhere to the IOSH competency framework, organisations are assured the advice for building and enhancing a safety management system is reliable, accurate and valid.

Organisations need reassurance that the design and implementation of their safety management systems has met legal and ethical requirements. This a vitally important governance question that can only be answered by using competent advice.

Through advancing their IOSH membership grade and by participating in the IOSH continued professional development system, the health and safety professional is able to define their existing competency and what they intend to do to further improve it.

Through the events they organise, the various IOSH communities support individual development. Events are focussed on the IOSH competency framework. Individual performance may be further enhanced by participation in the IOSH mentoring scheme. To complete the picture, IOSH courses can be used to share knowledge more widely in the organisation to all leaders, managers and workers. Over the past three decades, organisations from many different industries have proved that investment in these training courses will support the delivery of successful safety management systems.

Are the IOSH standards universal?

Different industries have dissimilar risk profiles. The culture of organisations within the same industry can differ from one another. The maturity of their systems and their degree of competency can vary. These three IOSH standards are able to accommodate these differences and are valid and helpful to all.

Through the principles of good occupational safety and health, its model of safety and its competency framework, IOSH provides a set of standards that support the delivery a safe and healthy world of work.