Safety Management System

The backbone of a safety oriented industry is the safety management system (SMS). A quality safety management system provides a framework to which every member of a company can use to aid in the decision making process. There are four components of a SMS: Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance, and Safety Promotion.
Safety Policy must be demonstrated and adhered to at all levels of an organization, including the most senior managers. If managers advocate for a safety conscious environment in emails and staff meetings, but are seem cutting corners and violating policies themselves, then their workers will mirror their behavior and not their words. In this policy must be a reporting and resolution system for employees to follow when they witness unsafe behavior or are issued instructions that they feel would compromise safety.
Safety Risk Management is the process of determining the probability of a certain action resulting in an accident. This probability then is used to comprise an assessment of acceptable risk. A certain level of risk is inherent is many jobs; however, that in no way can be used as an excuse to take needlessly unsafe action. Risk management is essential to determining ways to mitigate inevitable risks. Identify the hazards (brainstorm), assess the risk (how bad), analyze the risk (how often), then control the risk (eliminate or reduce).
Safety Assurance is the process of evaluating the safety structure that is already in place and identifying the new hazards that were not accounted for in it. Is the SMS structure in place producing the safety goals of the organization? Adjust and modernize as needed based on the data that is uncovered.
Safety Promotion is critical if the SMS is to be adhered to. Managers must follow the system themselves and employees must be given the necessary reoccurring training on the SMS. Communication is vital to ensuring the current safety management system is being followed and uncovering ways to improve it.

Wells, Alexander, & Rodrigues, Clarence. (2003). Commercial aviation safety. McGraw-Hill Professional.