MANAGEMENT & PROTECTION SYSTEMS

DOCUMENTS: - SAFETY

A- Company experiences and new legislative developments

The experiences acquired by companies in the field of security in different countries, the investigations and analysis conducted by various bodies, including international ones, on the most serious incidents that have occurred in recent years, highlight the central role that the managerial aspects and organizations have in risk prevention.
An analysis by the European Union of major accidents in the last twenty years has shown that most could have been avoided by applying "appropriate operating and management procedures".

On how to give a systematic approach to these aspects, on how to structure them and integrate them into the overall management system of the company or organization, various institutions have been working in various countries (US and UK in particular) that have developed their own models or guidelines of "Safety Management System" implemented in several industrial sectors, in particular in some process industries.

It should be noted among these institutions, in the United Kingdom, the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), which produced the "Successful Health and Safety Management" guidelines, known as the HS (G) 65 document of 1993 and which is the basis of the BS 8800 standard.

Substantially these models of Safety Management Systems (SGS) take over the general principles of management and apply them to Safety by providing: :

• policies,
• risk management programs,
• responsibilities and resources,
• practice, procedures,
• audit.

The SGS is a dynamic system that involves people (at all hierarchical levels), materials, installations, technologies, structures, services that constitute a productive settlement.
The experience gained by the companies that have applied this system is certainly positive in terms of minimizing accidents, losses and related costs, as well as in terms of efficiency, competitiveness and improvement of relations.

The importance of safety management aspects has also been recognized by the new legislation that has been developed. both at national and community level, and in other advanced countries.