Should I Purchase a Safety Management System or Have One Designed for Me?

Creating and maintaining a safe workplace is a vital component of the operations of any organisation. To competently protect workers, their health, and the environments they conduct their work in, both large and small organisations need to be armed with a precisely tuned Safety Management System (SMS).

With an effective and efficient SMS, organisations can manage safety programmes, identify hazards, report incidents, and be progressive in controlling risk, especially when it comes to regulatory compliance and sizing concerns. However, making the crucial decision to either design and develop an internal SMS, or instead purchase a third-party SMS service, is one that many organisations face as a challenge when adhering to employment Health & Safety (HSE) standards.

Option 1: Designing an Internal Safety Management System

Considered the more traditional solution, internal safety management systems are designed to either eliminate or mitigate the worker/environment interface through a number of different processes. Adoption normally involves creating new staff roles or departments to ably manage and maintain internal H&S standards at the different levels.

The general approach to modern safety management can be described as emphasising regulatory compliance and motivation programmes during the interaction of three primary components of the workplace:

A) Work Environment: the location where workers are exposed to risk. Companies must consider the geographic location, existing environmental conditions, and the different hazards present such as moving equipment or high pressure systems.

B) People: those who are either at risk or whose behaviours are capable of putting others at risk. A fundamental component of the safety programme is making people aware of what risks exist, getting them to self-identify and mitigate the risks. Programmes will involve education, assessment, verification, and observation.

C) Management Systems: formalised work practices which outline roles and responsibilities. They necessitate accountability to guarantee programmes are implemented effectively and where continual advancement is taking place.

Organisations that choose to design their own internal SMS will enjoy some of the following benefits:

• Consistency: with a dedicated in-house SMS, there ideally will be more time and personnel to analyse and study the way workers operate, as well as easy provision of training for the staff.
• New Safety Training Approaches: through the help of safety management systems vendors, organisations can recruit trained HSE professionals that follow and examine safety in the workplace in new and improved ways.
• Conformity with Company Beliefs: hiring in-house SMS staff presents the advantage of having someone who understands the company’s brand, and aligns their job with the company and regulated H&S standards.

Option 2: Purchasing a Safety Management System (Software)

Companies that choose to purchase an SMS are essentially choosing to outsource their SMS to a third-party service vendor, commonly with a running software package. The choice to adopt SMS software empowers safety officers and employees in proactively keeping the workplace safe and compliant with H&S regulations through powerful customisable inspections, real-time corrective actions, efficient recordkeeping, and insightful analytics.

Other additional benefits of purchasing an SMS include:

• Reduced Time and Costs: with an SMS, the work-hours and costs dedicated to managing safety, document handling, and paperwork are cut down by automated services. Each $1 invested in safety saves up to $3 in accident costs.
• Higher Quality Data: SMS software improves data collection and significantly enhances data handling with seamless information gathering.
• Streamlined Communication: SMS software provides a centralised platform where all H&S assessment, data, reports, and more are readily accessible.
• Secure Data Storage: SMS software securely stores safety and compliance data in a manner that allows for easy retrieval of older staff information or easy onboarding of new staff.
• Flexible resources: adoption of an SMS software service creates an adjustable workload that allows for better resource allocation in response to business changes.
• Improved employee safety and welfare compliance: you can measure employee knowledge on safety-related issues and assess the level of compliance on an individual basis.

How to Decide: Designing In-house SMS vs Purchasing Third-party SMS?

For any business, the decision ultimately depends on 3 main considerations.

1. The Cost of Adopting an SMS

In the past, internal IT resources and safety experts designed, built, and maintained the in-house SMS. However, given today’s economic climate, this is not sustainable for most organisations. Investing in SMS software and working with an SMS service partner controls your time and costs that would otherwise be spent on maintaining an in-house SMS, which can potentially run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for extra IT staff alone.

2. Availability of Skilled Safety Resources

In today’s digital world, every department requires assistance from IT. This can leave your safety department waiting in a long queue for IT resources, yet any SMS must keep up to date with the most current regulations or management changes. Outsourcing the design and management of your SMS saves time and IT resources throughout your organisation.

3. Business Requirements

Growth requires change, and as your business evolves the safety process requirements must evolve along with it. It makes business sense to purchase and outsource the management of your SMS to safety vendors who already have the most up-to-date technology.

Conclusion

While designing an internal SMS promotes conformity of company safety, having to recruit safety personnel at different levels to accommodate the ever-evolving management system changes often requires a hefty investment of money. Strategic use of third-party safety services can provide for better personnel and resource management.

Coyle Group can help your organisation with the arrangement of all documentation necessary for safety personnel recruitment and also provide additional top-class compliance consultancy services.