Discuss the challenges of implementing a Safety Management System. Your response should also be related to Describing what the ideal safety management system looks like to you. Do you think it makes a difference in how hazards and risks are managed and controlled?

Please respond to Alejandro in 150  words.

Managing safety on a large construction problem can be very challenging. You can begin the project with all the best intentions and have all the trades agree on being extra super-duper safe, but when the project gets underway you have many different needs come up on a daily basis and now you have to make sure safety is being kept at the forefront. 

An example of the challenging nature of a large construction project would be a trade falling behind because of material, weather, accident, etc… Causing other trades to fall behind and now when it comes time to catch the work back up safety just isn’t at the forefront. “Here sign this paper that we had a safety meeting; now get to work”. 

Always planning your work using the 7 elements can help keep safety paramount allowing the safety team and its efforts to case a bigger net rather than running around being the safety police addressing individual incidents. Implement a system such as a job site hazard analysis that all trades have to fill out for work they are doing. This will help and hold trades accountable, for communicating to employees the hazards of the work they are doing, and the measures taken to correct them. Hold periodic meetings where all trades must be in attendance, so that everyone is involved in the safety effort although everyone’s safety needs may differ. 

Implementing an effective safety management system can help you evaluate how safety is being managed allowing to make decisions that will effect on a much broader scale than safety policing can.