ABSTRACT
In many countries, company directors, managers, and employees can now be held personally liable for failure to control health and safety. Increasingly, managers are held criminally liable when things go wrong and so there is an increasing tendency for organizations to document their safety systems. Of course, a mere written procedure does nothing in itself to reduce the risk of harm to employees-it is merely a statement of intent. To translate such a statement into meaningful action requires some sort of management activity. To ensure that this action is properly sustained requires monitoring by the management team. The level of informality or formality of the system will depend on the nature of the enterprise and the risks associated with it. The essential starting point is to consider SHE management as a key business process. The board or senior management of the organization should set down its basic requirements in the areas of SHE protection in the form of a policy statement, which should be made available to all employees. The policy should state the organization’s position on SHE matters and how all the employees will be expected to comply with them. It should also state the arrangements and responsibilities within the organization for implementation of that policy. The policy should influence all the organization’s activities, including the selection of people, equipment, and materials, the way work is done, and how goods are designed and services are provided.
