ABSTRACT
A “system” is “an environment exploiting, restricting and repressing individuals.” So claims the Collins Concise Dictionary. Surely this cannot be the intention of safety, occupational health, and environmental systems? Perhaps a more appropriate definition would be “a way of doing things.” However, Collins is right in suggesting that systems may not necessarily be a help; they can on occasion be a hindrance. We have all experienced the uniformed official who insists on rigidly applying outdated rules with the claim that it “is more than his job’s worth not to comply!” Nevertheless, systems are needed in organizations whether they cover the control of finances, the payment of employees, the purchase of goods, the control of product quality, or the application of safety, health, and environmental (SHE) standards. Although we may sometimes doubt it, systems are created to simplify activities that are repeated and are essential to the purpose of the organization. They are intended to ensure that we benefit from the learning and experience of others, so that we do not all have to go back and reinvent the activity from first principles. Even when formal systems do not exist, it is human nature for us to want to make things easy for ourselves, so we often tend to devise our own way of doing things.
