Successful management is based on a plan – and safety management is no exception

You wouldn’t embark on a sales campaign without first planning what you’re going to sell; for how much; and to whom. Similarly, you wouldn’t start a recruitment programme without first working out how many people you’re looking for, and what skillsets you’ll need them to have.

It’s obvious, isn’t it? After all, if you don’t have a clear idea of what it is you want to achieve, then how can you expect to achieve it?

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail

With that axiom in mind, ask yourself this question: do you (or your company) have a plan – a viable policy – in place for achieving your safety objectives? And note the deliberate use of the qualifier ‘viable’ because this policy has to be a functional management tool, not just a document which lies in a filing cabinet somewhere and never sees the light of day.

Now, you may think that this question has been offered in a light-hearted or frivolous way, but that’s certainly not the case. On the contrary, the intent behind the question is deadly serious.

An important management system

The fact of the matter is that many companies regard safety management as simply a minor adjunct to their conventional management obligations such as marketing, finance and HR – but they’re completely wrong. Safety management is a management system just like any other, structured along the same Plan/ Do/ Check/ Act methodology – and it’s certainly not of minor importance.

On the contrary, it’s a very important management function because if something goes wrong with the safety processes then the company – and, sometimes, its senior staff as well – can face severe legal sanctions. These can include substantial fines and, possibly, disqualification from holding the position of company director.

To make this point let’s look at a real-life example taken from the pharmaceutical sector, an illustration which demonstrates not only the importance of safety, but also the consequences that can arise should it go wrong.

Potential serious consequences

In 2022 a pharmaceutical manufacturer was prosecuted for supplying a batch of magnesium glycerophosphate which contained just 12% of the prescribed level of active ingredient. As a result of this failure a child was taken seriously ill, but thankfully survived.

The Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) investigated and found deficiencies in the manufacturing and quality control processes. Having pleaded guilty at the Crown Court to “supplying a medicinal product which was not of the nature or quality specified in a prescription”, the company was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £104,898 in costs.

It was later revealed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that this particular error with the magnesium glycerophosphate prescription “was not an isolated mistake”, but to be clear, it was the only incident upon which the prosecution case was based.

The importance of a policy to keep people safe

Had the company had an effective safety management policy in place, one which was (say) aligned with the international standard ISO 45001, then they might well have prevented this incident (and those other failures which the CPS mentioned) by establishing firmer control over their manufacturing and quality checking processes.

And, even if they hadn’t held formal ISO 45001 certification, they were still legally obliged to have, and to follow, a working health & safety policy.

Make no mistake: the safety policy is not a tick box exercise, or a bureaucratic eccentricity, but a valuable management tool. Used properly it keeps people safe; it helps the business operate efficiently; and, last but not least, it helps keep the company out of trouble.

To learn more about health & safety policies and how they work, join our half-day webinar Planning and Implementing a H&S Policy for Your Business, presented by Andy Farrall FIIRSM CMIOSH.

Andy is both an accredited UK safety management consultant and a qualified and experienced industrial accident investigator. He is no stranger to such presentations since he is often asked to give lectures on safety topics to senior management groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Published on Jan 27, 2025 by Andy Farrell