ABSTRACT
Safety management systems are important. But they grow over time, a gradual accretion of more and more procedures as a result of findings from audits and investigations. Yet, rarely does anything get removed. The result is an overwhelmingly bureaucratic and complex system that does no good. A ‘systemectomy’ is required – a surgical removal of those parts of the system that are adding no value, to return to some semblance of usefulness, so that the system is enabling work to progress, not restricting it.
