ISO 45001: Safety Management and Inadequate Leadership

Accidents within organizations occur when there is a safety system management that proves inadequate following an incorrect intervention by management or a safety management system that is, in itself, inadequate to master the particular situation that has been encountered.

Safety management is often complicated by the fact that the person who decides how to act is often not the person directly exposed to the risk or the one who must comply with the requirements. To give you an idea of the points to which it is good to pay more attention, the most common causes of accidents related to safety in the company belong to the following categories:

1. non-compliance
2. lack of knowledge
3. lack of skill
4. inadequate training
5. inadequate procedure
6. inadequate communication
7. inadequate controls and inspections
8. psychological stress
9. inadequate leadership
10. inadequate supervision
11. inadequate process engineering
12. inadequate risk assessment
13. inadequate personal protection
14. inadequate machine protection
15. inadequate alarm system
16. inadequate purchases
17. inadequate maintenance
18. inadequate tools or equipment
19. inadequate materials
20. inadequate working standards
21. wear
22. improper use
23. poor cleaning

These causes may be the result of deeper causes that can be classified into the following categories.

1. performance objectives and profit maximization
2. customer requests
3. struggle for competition
4. established requirements
5. efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of requirements
6. organization
7. complexity and nature of injuries
8. ignorance
9. constraints and pressures
10. circumvention and deviation from the standard
11. external factors

In a risk situation, there may be multiple stakeholders. The result of a situation that guarantees or does not guarantee safety to the personnel is the result of the combination of behaviors and attitudes of the various stakeholders of the system:

1. management
2. personnel
3. shareholders
4. customers
5. authorities
6. society
7. industry bodies
8. competitors
9. professionals (consultants, etc.)
10. auditors (first, second, and third party)
11. contractors
12. subcontractors
13. service providers, vendors, and suppliers
14. temporary workers
15. visitors

Each of these stakeholders has a different interest and concern for safety even if inappropriate safety management usually perpetuates or aggravates the risk within the management system and should be taken into account.