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Systems and Due Diligence, Part 3 of 3
Having a clearly defined, graphically represented safety management system offers a number of distinct benefits. One of these benefits becomes clear during the safety audit process. Let's discuss the auditing of the system.
Beware of Generic Auditing Methods
Using generic safety audits to monitor your system poses a problem. You need to ensure that whichever safety audit methodology you choose measures the effectiveness of your own safety system. It should reflect your own business patterns and risks. So if you manufacture chemicals, using an audit method tailored to measure the system deployed by an auto manufacturing plant, pulp and paper mill or fish plant will give you a less than an accurate picture of your safety system's strengths and weaknesses.
The reason is simple: One-size-fits-all management system audit fit no one. They tend to be so generic as the issues sometimes have little or no value to add to the organization. The more specific the audit methodology and protocol to your management system, the better your audit findings and opportunities for improvement can stand the test of the SMART acronym (SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACTION-ORIENTED, REALISTIC AND TIME SENSITIVE). If objectives from your audit findings don't end up meeting the SMART acronym, you run the risk of having both nebulous and meaningless management system action.
The benefit in clearly defining your safety management system is that you can use the same pattern or 'template' to model your safety audit. One should compliment, and ideally enhance, the other. Safety system development need not be a complicated process. While the size of your system can be complex and comprehensive, depending on the size of your business or risks associated with its undertaking, it's simply a matter of defining:
- The work to be done;
- How the work is to be done;
- Who's going to do it; and
- How it's going to be managed.
Conclusion
To repeat the advice from Part 1 of this series, it's a good idea to create a graphic representation of your OH&S management system. Draw a diagram displaying the component parts of your system on a piece of paper. Then use the drawing to explain your system to senior management. After all, when it comes to winning backing and financial management for your program and goals, a picture is worth 1,000 words.
HEALTH & EXERCISE
Couch Potato Country
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| The great American pastime? |
It's hardly a shock that Americans over the age of 15 spend more time in front of the television than exercising. If exercise were easy, it wouldn't be good for you. But, given all we know about the health benefits of exercise, the dimension of the disparity between TV watching and exercise is a bit off-putting.
16% The percentage of people who live in the U.S. that participate in sports and exercise activities on an average day.
80% The percentage of people who live in the U.S. that watch TV on an average day.
These numbers come courtesy of a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here are some other interesting findings:
- Parts of the country where people are most likely to participate in sports and exercise are the Pacific, New England and Mountain regions;
- People living in the Pacific are the most active-about 50% more likely to exercise and play sports than people in the East South Central and West South Central regions;
- Here's a statistic you might find surprising: Among those 25 and older, persons who have at least a bachelor's degree are more than twice as likely to participate in sports and exercise than those with a high school diploma or less;
- Men are slightly more likely than women to participate in sports and exercise on an average day;
- Those who play sports or exercise are just as likely to do it alone as with a companion;
- Almost 75% of those who exercise or play sports on an average day do so for less than two hours-most common duration: between 30 and 59 minutes; and
- The most popular form of activity, as you might expect, is walking (see the chart below for a ranking of forms of exercise by popularity).
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Spotlight on Statistics: Sports and Exercise, May 2008, http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/ (figures are from 2003 to 2006).
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