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The Comparative Analysis Model: Mapping and Analyzing Safety and Health Management Systems

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has produced a comparative analysis of safety and health management systems. As illustrated in the following downloadable materials, their Comparative Analysis (CA) model identifies the common elements that are characteristic of the more notable, effective safety management systems and culture maturity models identified during this study.

Download the full detailed version, printable on 24” x 42”.

Download the summarized version, printable on 8.5” x 11” or 11” x 17” paper.

Organizations should consider the use of both tools when designing their safety program. Careful examination of these elements can be beneficial to organizations and decision makers when establishing a new or re-engineering an existing enterprise-wide safety and health program. The CA suggests that each system is built on an organizational safety philosophy that promotes a structured approach with measurable attributes and milestones.

This analysis validates the notion that creating and sustaining an effective organizational safety culture requires a deliberate architecture based on four elements:

  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Employee relations
  • Measurement

The Conference Board also identifies and discusses these elements in their document “Driving Toward ‘0’ Best Practices in Corporate Safety and Health, 2003.”

Why best practices?

Because high performing organizations promote safety and adopt safety as one of their core values. Since employees expect to work in an environment that is safe and healthy, leaders and managers should continually evaluate their safety and health programs to ensure leadership, policies, resources, mechanisms, and tools are achieving the intended outcomes.

Mutual trust and accountability among leaders, managers, and employees are inherent in mature safety cultures; therefore, leaders and managers should continually assess the safety climate and culture, and identify improvement opportunities.

Source: http://www.nsc.org/Pages/Home.aspx

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Date modified:
2012-03-12