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Safety Management System (SMS)

    Introduction

    Welcome to RSSB's Safety Management System (SMS) guidance pages. RSSB has tools, guidance and expertise to help you develop your SMS to optimal effectiveness. This guidance is for those who need to put in place arrangements for managing health and safety, or those who have a responsibility for overseeing the arrangements.

    Our guidance is presented in a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) management framework. This is a popular framework for managing occupational health and safety risks. We do not set prescriptive paths for SMSs because each organisation and its operational risks are unique. The SMS should be appropriate for the organisation's risks and fit for purpose. If an SMS is bespoke to the organisation, it will be more effective. 

    We are looking for feedback and ideas on new content, including case studies. Please get in touch.

    SMS Guidance
    Introduction to Safety Management System guidance
    The Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS) introduced requirement for and content of the SMS. In basic terms, a SMS is a formal arrangement for managing, assuring, and improving safety.
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    Plan
    RSSB has assembled articles and tools demonstrating good practice on planning for health and safety, and signposts to guidance on how to cooperate and collaborate within the GB rail industry.
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    Do

    Organisations must understand risks, be able to prioritise them and take action to control them. This page assembles a wealth of industry resources to support organisations with these activities.

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    Check
    How to use tools and techniques to monitor the effectiveness of Safety Management Systems and ensure continuous improvement. On these pages we also identify resources to support organisations benefit more from incident investigations.
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    Act
    Ongoing reviews of performance, taking actions on lessons learned, and making adjustments to the Safety Management System, are essential to keep the system effective. On these pages, tools that support organisations with these review processes are identified.
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    Leadership
    Leadership is a core element of a Safety Management System. Failure to include health and safety as a key business risk in board decisions can have catastrophic results. On these pages we highlight some excellent resources to support business leaders.
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    Haven’t found what you’re looking for?
    Get in touch with our Lead SMS Specialist for further information.
    Kevin Tthompson
    Kevin Thompson
    https://customer-portal.rssb.co.uk