Safety management systems

A new type of Safety Management System is about to be introduced in Hong Kong. This month our regular contributor J A Mclnnis looks at the background to the new system and outlines its major elements and how it will be implemented.published_or_final_versio

Safety Management Systems Update and Progress

The Safety Management System (SMS) Day Panel Charge on March 18, 2009, delivered by Dr. Alan Stolzer, was intended to provide participants with references, tools, vocabulary, and encouragement to adopt academic and laboratory curricula that would prepare students for careers in the SMS environment

Tools to support the self assessment of the performance of Food Safety Management Systems

Changes in food supply chains, health and demographic situations, lifestyle and social situations, environmental conditions, and increased legislative requirements have led to significant efforts in the development of quality and safety management systems in agribusiness and food industry worldwide (Ropkins and Beck, 2000; Efstratiadis, Karirti, and Arvanitoyannis, 2000; Jacxsens, et al, 2009a, Luning and Marcelis, 2009a). Nowadays, companies have implemented various quality assurance (QA) guidelines and standards, such as GMP and HACCP guidelines (like General Principles of food hygiene (Codex Alimentarius 2003), GFSI guidance document (GFSI (2007), and quality assurance standards (like ISO 9001:2008 (2008), ISO22000:2005 (2005), BRC (2008), and IFS (2007) into their company own food safety management system. The performance of such systems in practice is, however, still variable. Moreover, the continuous pressure on food safety management system (FSMS) performance and the dynamic environment wherein the systems operate (such as emerging pathogens, changing consumer demands, developments in preservation techniques) require that they can be systematically analysed to determine opportunities for improvement (Wallace, et al, 2005; Manning et al, 2006; Van der Spiegel et al, 2006; Cornier et al, 2007; Luning et al, 2009a). Within the European project entitled ‘PathogenCombat- EU FOOD-CT-2005-007081’ various tools have been developed to support food companies and establishments in systematically analysing and judging their food safety management system and its microbiological performance as basis for strategic choices on interventions to improve the FSMS performance. This chapter describes briefly principles of the major tools that have been developed and some others, which are still under still under construction

Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Assessment Training

An occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) is required for all Federal agencies by Executive Order 12196 – Occupational safety and health programs for Federal employees. Development of the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Assessment Training Manual was supported jointly by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The manual was designed to be used in the training of government personnel on how to assess the OHSMS of Federal establishments and agencies. The manual is organized sequentially through each step in the process of conducting an OHSMS assessment. Trainees start by learning about how to prepare for an assessment and the training concludes with a discussion on how to incorporate multiple establishments’ OHSMS assessment scores into an agency-wide assessment. Each module includes exercises designed to aid Federal personnel in learning the skills necessary to complete an OHSMS assessment

IDENTIFICATION OF ORGANIC COMPONENTS OF SOLID WASTE ON SATELLITE IMAGERY WHILE MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

Solid domestic wastes contain a components which can become nutrients for a pretty wide spectrum of types of microorganisms some of which are harmful for human and environment. The climate on territory of Ukraine promotes their intensive reproduction in such conditions. All organisms, including microorganisms, mainly consist of carbon and therefore represent the carbon containing components of waste dumps, namely organic. Monitoring of the conditions of microbiological pollution of urban systems on the territory of which surely there are solid waste damps as part of technogenic and ecological safety of these systems, can take one of main places in ecological safety management systems

Management Systems for Hazardous Exposures -- Evidence of Failure and Opportunities for Success

Coal mining legislation makes frequent reference to ‘Safety Management Systems’ but there is a chronic shortage of useful guidance material as to how these might be applied to hazardous exposures. Several studies have indicated that for each death that is reported as a result of an industrial ‘accident’, there are five deaths that caused by occupational exposures. Because the deaths from occupational exposures do not occur on site and often well after employment has ceased, they are generally unreported. Improved access to mortality data from coroners, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and superannuation service providers (early claims from death and total permanent disability), has given rise to some analysis of death and disability data that provides evidence that there are emerging opportunities to develop and improve safety management systems for hazardous occupational exposures. Issues explored include how safety management systems might be developed in relation to dusts and chemicals and other hazardous exposures to ensure the risk of disorders with long latency periods are reliably assessed and the exposures effectively managed. The current standards and guidelines which refer to safety management systems in general or to management of exposure related hazards are examined. Many standards are based on dose-response studies that provide for an acceptable percentage of workers to suffer adverse health outcomes. An alternative management system might be to apply dose-response relations to health surveillance to identify ‘at risk’ individuals and effectively manage health and related safety risk at an early stage

Peer Reviewed Safety Management Systems: Collaboration for Continuous Improvement

Collegiate aviation program leaders have no greater responsibility than assuring safe flight operations. A Safety Management System (SMS) is an effective framework to present and reinforce key safety principles and can be effectively tailored for the collegiate aviation flight training environment. The collegiate academic tradition of peer review can be effectively leveraged to enable collaboration between collegiate aviation programs and provide a mechanism for continuous improvement of participating programs. This presentation provides a model for establishing a peer review process for collegiate Safety Management Systems and the construction of a password-protected repository for reviewed programs which can be referenced by others who submit a peer-reviewed SMS program. Sharing and collaboration between those who have developed reviewed programs will provide a forum and opportunity to propagate the continuous improvement tenet of SMS. Continuously improving Safety Management Systems reinforce key safety concepts to aviation students as well as to support the construction and maintenance of a safety culture in the flying operations portion of a collegiate aviation program