Total Safety Management: Principles, processes and methods

Safety management systems (SMS) are changing from a prescriptive style to a more 'self-regulatory' and 'performance oriented' model that is more proactive, participative and better integrated with business activities. So far, the integration of safety with other management systems (e.g., quality, environment and productivity) has been addressed either at a strategic level or a standardization level (e.g., cross referencing across ISO 9001, ISO 14000, OSHA 18001). This article looks at the coordination between business processes that are common to these management systems and proposes several principles of Total Safety Management on the basis of earlier studies and a three-year experience with a European project (Total Operations management of Safety Critical Activities). To realize the TSM principles, four safety processes are proposed that are compatible to ISO 31000 and CCPS (2008) standards. The TSM principles and processes are furnished with practical methods and tools to demonstrate their values to the organization. Although the TSM approach takes a system view of safety, other approaches relying on complexity theory can be mapped onto TSM and provide a basis for further developments.