Implementation of an Office-Based Safety Management System

I was responsible for the implementation of an office-based Safety Management System in an office of some 350 personnel. Personnel consisted of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, mining engineers, civil engineers, geologists, H.R. professionals, admin staff, payroll people, accountants, purchasing staff, various managers and support staff. Many of these people visited operating sites.

I was charged with implementing the N.O.S.A. Safety Management System out of South Africa in Brisbane office. Prior to this implementation there was an enormous safety focus at operating sites but virtually nothing in safety was done in Brisbane office. The first step was to appoint Health & Safety reps. and form a Health & Safety Committee that met monthly. An outside provider was selected to train committee members in their role, duties and responsibilities. I trained committee members in the N.O.S.A. Safety Management System and I facilitated a committee workshop where committee members decided which of the extensive N.O.S.A. requirements were applicable in our environment.

A booklet outlining which of the N.O.S.A. elements were applicable was produced and these were explained at the monthly tool-box meeting. In some cases I did this and in some cases I coached the reps in how to do this. Input into the S.M.S. was encouraged from staff. Either I or the reps conducted monthly tool-box meetings in all sections where safety issues were discussed, safety problems were raised and resolved and progress on implementation of N.O.S.A. was discussed and monitored.

The following are some other initiatives introduced-

Revision of the office safety induction and introduction of a site induction program for those visiting sites

A competition to name the Brisbane safety system-Brisafe was decided upon

Publishing of a Brisafe guide book

Development of a safety induction handbook

Introduction of monthly safety inspections

Advanced driver training for those with company cars and their partners

Training in the use of fire equipment

Upgrading of emergency procedures and training

Upgrading of incident reporting procedures

Fitting of earth-leakage protection

Improved reporting of safety performance

Off-the job safety promotions

Training in screen-based equipment ergonomics and an ergonomics survey

Noise survey, attenuation and replacement of noisy office equipment was carried out

Illumination survey

Fire risk survey

Chemical substances management system introduced

Emphasis on housekeeping & storage

Upgrade of first-aid facilities

Establishment of a safety reference library

6 monthly internal safety audits and annual external safety audits

Use of job safety analysis to develop safe working procedures

Dissemination and explanation of workers compensation and rehabilitation procedures

An extensive effort to introduce the above was carried out over some 8 months and we received a 4 star ( out of 5 stars) effort rating at our first external audit.