HSE Management System Success
Leadership and Control are Mandatory for Success
Organizations are always questioning why their Safety Management System is just not working. After many years of working with organizations and countless reviews and audits of organizations I have came up with overwhelming results that are in fact the same in nature. The result was Control and Leadership.
The principles of Control and Leadership are absolutely fundamental for the success of any Safety Management System. The challenge to Top Management is quite clear: Proper leadership for safety is more rewarding, more economical, more democratic than safety by work group imposition, and definetly by government imposition. The willingness coupled with positive leadership can and will stop the erosion of the freedom to manage.
In order to carry out the leadership requirements, management needs to be convinced that an effective safety management system is simply a sound investment, which will produce very substantial financial rewards. In order to carry out the functions of management, in broad terms, management needs to appreciate the activities required to carry out the control function. It is necessary to plan, organize, lead and control. The weakest link in your organizations management activities may just be the control function.
Controlling is the function of determining the end result and process through which it will be reached. Observation of the activities scheduled within the process is essential, with timely corrections of variances where necessary. Effective management control involves the following actions:
Identification of those key items, which economically and practicably can be controlled, such as the elements of the health and safety system[It should be noted that it is not financially possible or feasible to control everything in an organization];
Set Standards of Performance: These should include the following components:
- What needs to be done?
- How often is it to be done?
- Who is to do it
- Where is it to be done?
- What records are required?
- What reviews are required?
- What quality of product and performance is required?
Set Standards of Accountability: These must identify those who have the responsibility to carry out the control of the identified items;
Measure against Standards: This requires measurement of work in progress or performed, against the standards;
Evaluation: Any positive or negative deviation from the standard must be evaluated;
Commend or Correct: Good performance should be recognized and commended. If necessary, correction to any deviation from the set standard should be made.
By evaluating management’s leadership efforts in taking up the challenge to reach the objectives set, it is possible to determine the strengths and weak-nesses in your existing program.