How does the safety culture of an organization affect the design and implementation of its safety management system (SMS)?
Too often, people design and implement an SMS without first properly assessing their organization’s safety culture for risk. The results are almost always the same: an SMS that at best is marginalized and at worst, completely ineffective — more of a “check in the box” just to gain an approval or keep a supplier happy.
As Deborah Hersman, chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said in an April 2009 speech to the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, SMS “functions well for companies that already are getting it right, but it may do little for companies without strong safety cultures.”
The common assumption is that people will embrace the SMS, become engaged by using the hazard and incident reporting system, openly report near misses and errors, and take ownership of safety and compliance in their operation. But will the…
