ArchDAMS Approach | Org Context

Understanding The Organisational Context:

The Key to Effective Safety Management

Published Mar, 2024

Before any design initiative, understanding the project's essence through a detailed design brief is paramount. This foundational step ensures clarity, efficiency, and effectiveness, steering the project from concept to completion.

Likewise, comprehending the organisational context is the indispensable first step in devising any effective safety management system. Failure to align the safety system with the organisation's unique context can result in a system that, while operational, lacks true effectiveness.

In a landscape devoid of uniform safety metrics across industries, discerning the efficacy of safety management systems becomes an arduous task. Amidst discussions dominated by intangible concepts like trust, care, and culture—difficult to quantify—numerous safety management systems operate at subpar levels of effectiveness.

Using the ArchDAMS Approach within the context of a design and construction project management firm, this article illustrates the centrality of understanding your organisational context in tailoring your safety management system.

Understanding the Core Offering

A crucial first step in the design of an effective safety management system is to identify the heart of what the business provides. The safety management system should directly support and safeguard the processes involved in delivering this core product or service.

Taking on an off-the-shelf system or one not rooted in a clear understanding of the core offering risks being a bloated system with things that either divert resources away from where they are needed or fail to recognise where things are lacking.

A system not rooted in this understanding of the context also risks being a corollary to what actually goes on. So staff in this case will see safety as another annoying item to tick off and the integration of such systems into the workflow is doomed.

The core business of design and programme management firms is services in the form of design deliverables and ongoing supervision and or management of construction programmes. The design of the safety management system should therefore revolve around this.

Unlike a construction contractor who would operate and or own plant and equipment, design consultants don't need to include arrangements for the management of such equipment as part of their arrangements. However, they need to assess when and where their staff and their designs are likely to interface with such plant and equipment and design appropriate contextual controls.

The safety management system for a design and project management firm will be heavy on designing-out risks and the legal duties various regulations and best practices place on designers.

A norm in the industry is for safety management systems to follow international standards or regulatory approved codes of practice, some do it line for line. The result is often a system that is aligned to the system referenced but misaligned with the specifics of the operations at hand.

The ArchDAMS approach starts with a thorough review of the operations and its constituent parts. Controls are then added to each constituent part such that each becomes a fully controlled sub-unit of the broader system.

Insight into Materials and Production

Understanding the transformation of raw materials into value-added products or services is pivotal for every business operation. This involves a deep dive into the raw materials used, the processes they undergo, and the final products delivered to clients and customers. Such insight is foundational for creating an effective and integrated safety management system.

For a design and project management firm, the primary "materials" are ideas, which are shaped by the expertise of its staff into designs and services for clients. This is a predominantly people-centred operation, with little need for handling heavy equipment or materials.

In contrast to construction contractors, who must manage hazardous materials and potentially contaminated waste, design consultants face minimal material handling risks. Their exposure might extend only to handling samples and mock-ups.

Therefore, the focus of safety risk assessments and controls should align with this specific exposure, prioritising the management of risks posed by their designs to contractors, end users, and those involved in refitting or demolishing structures.

A norm in the industry is for safety management systems to take a catch-all approach, attempting to account for every conceivable risk. While this may suffice in a legal environment that emphasises liability and protection, it often results in a bloated and impractical system.

The ArchDAMS approach uniquely anchors risk management to operational spheres, with ongoing assignment of dutyholders to pertinent risks. This targeted approach prevents the dilution of focus on generic risks irrelevant to the actual context, ensuring that safety measures are both relevant and effective.

Navigating Market Dynamics and Resource Allocation

Understanding the market in which an organisation operates is crucial for tailoring a safety management system that judiciously utilises resources without compromising safety.

Given the economic principle of scarcity, safety initiatives must vie for resources alongside other organisational priorities. Ideally, safety should be a priority, but it must also operate within the constraints of a finite budget.

Recognising the nuances of your market helps in fine-tuning the safety management system for optimal resource use. The reality is that the safest methods are not always the most straightforward.

There are invariably more ways to compromise an operation than to conduct it safely, and safer practices can be more costly than taking shortcuts.

By understanding the dynamics of your operating environment, your safety management system can incorporate safeguards that activate when cost pressures mount, thereby deterring risky shortcuts and mitigating associated hazards.

For instance, when a firm accepts a contract under tighter than usual deadlines, the pressure to expedite work can compromise thoroughness and safety. Similarly, contractors falling behind schedule may rush tasks, increasing the likelihood of unsafe practices.

Traditional safety management systems often respond reactively to these increases in risk, if they can detect the trend at all. Many rely on fostering a culture of trust and care, hoping it will override concerns about speed and cost.

Conversely, the ArchDAMS approach embeds safety considerations within project schedules, making it acutely responsive to deviations from planned versus actual progress.

This proactive stance allows for the anticipation of riskier behaviours, enabling interventions before such trends manifest in analysis, thus offering a more integrated and adaptive solution to managing safety amid the pressures of market demands and resource limitations.

Evaluating Workforce Dynamics for Safety System Design

Understanding the composition and skill set of your workforce is crucial in shaping a safety management system that resonates with its users. Tailoring the system to fit the unique characteristics of your staff ensures higher efficacy and engagement.

Conducting a detailed analysis of the tasks performed by the staff, and the manner in which these tasks are executed, forms the backbone of developing a safety management system that truly supports the operational reality.

In the context of a design and project management firm, the workforce typically comprises individuals with advanced degrees and professional certifications. This concentration of expertise provides a solid foundation for leveraging knowledge and skills in safety management practices, differentiating it from operations with a more diverse educational background among staff.

Such a workforce demographic influences the design of training programs, the method of distributing instructions, and the sharing of safety-related information.

For example, the prevalence of remote work among designers diminishes the effectiveness of traditional notice boards, necessitating alternative communication strategies more suited to their work environment.

While international standards and regulatory codes advocate for end-user involvement in crafting risk management controls—often interpreted as a call for democratising the process—the ArchDAMS approach takes a more nuanced stance.

It views workforce participation not just as a recommendation but as a pivotal element in the safety management system’s development, implementation, and continuous improvement.

Central to this approach is the identification of dutyholders within the workforce, ensuring they are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to fulfil their safety responsibilities effectively.

This integration of workforce dynamics into the system's design underscores the commitment to creating a collaborative, inclusive safety culture that harnesses the collective expertise of all staff members.

Production Environments and Adaptability

The physical and operational setting in which work is conducted significantly influences the formulation of an effective safety management system.

Production environments that are fully within the control of the organisation offer more flexibility to adapt physical spaces and routines in alignment with safety objectives.

Conversely, environments outside the organisation's direct control present unique challenges, requiring the safety management system to be versatile and adaptive.

A comprehensive grasp of these environments is essential, from recognising the limitations on modifications to understanding the implications for emergency preparedness.

For instance, the proximity of medical facilities dramatically affects emergency response plans, with remote sites necessitating different strategies compared to urban settings with readily accessible healthcare and emergency services.

The broader impact of understanding the production environment extends beyond emergency response to include communication strategies for remote workers and addressing psychosocial risks inherent to specific working conditions.

The ArchDAMS approach, with its emphasis on tailoring safety management to the unique aspects of each operational environment, ensures that safety measures are both effective and seamlessly integrated into the daily work life, thereby enhancing the overall safety culture within the organisation.

Operational Flexibility and Process Adaptation

One of the critical pitfalls in traditional safety management systems is their inability to adapt to the dynamic nature of operational environments.

Operations in fields such as construction, manufacturing, and service delivery oscillate between planned and unplanned, normal and abnormal, and routine and emergency states. These transitions, often subtle, significantly influence risk-taking behaviours and the potential for accidents.

Consultant teams tasked with devising rescue plans for failing operations face unique challenges. They must navigate pre-existing design decisions, some irreversible, setting a complex baseline that differs from their standard operations. It’s a reality of the industry; projects do falter and require intervention.

Standard safety management systems tend to prescribe generic solutions for specific processes, lacking the flexibility to respond to the unique demands of abnormal situations.

For instance, arrangements for working at height might be treated uniformly, disregarding the nuanced differences between each situation.

The ArchDAMS approach, however, is designed to be inherently adaptable to the operational process, acknowledging the unique characteristics of each sphere of operation and the diverse interactions within.

It continuously assigns dutyholders specific roles, equipping them with the necessary means to excel, regardless of the operational state.

This adaptability is achieved through the strategic use of technology, not merely as a digital replacement for paper-based systems, but as a tool to fundamentally reimagine process management, leveraging technological advancements to foster a more responsive and flexible safety management environment.

Emergency Response Adaptability

Emergency response planning is a critical component of any safety management system due to the escalated risks to life and property during emergencies, where standard operating procedures often become obsolete.

The industry norm, driven by international standards and regulatory mandates which stipulate the need for emergency plans, is to develop emergency response plans that are as generic as their standard operating counterparts, tailored to common scenarios but sometimes lacking specificity.

For example, a design team working within an office building already participating in regular building-wide fire drills doesn't necessarily benefit from additional, separate drills.

Similarly, an unplanned evacuation due to a suspected fire can pragmatically fulfil the criteria for a scheduled drill, enhancing real-world preparedness without adding unnecessary disruption.

Effective safety systems should flexibly accommodate these realities, moving beyond rigid adherence to standards for mere compliance.

The ArchDAMS approach innovatively integrates emergency scenarios into the responsibilities assigned to each dutyholder, ensuring adaptability to actual working conditions.

In the allocation of fire wardens for example, It prioritises team-based emergency roles over generic floor-wide assignments, leveraging team cohesion for more effective emergency awareness and response.

This model acknowledges the dynamic nature of emergency situations and the importance of contextual, practical preparedness over formulaic, one-size-fits-all planning.

Overall, a thorough understanding of the very nature of the organisational context is a prerequisite for designing effective safety management systems.

This crucial knowledge is scattered across the various departments, and subcultures within an organisation and accessing it requires not only tact but a general understanding of what to look for.

Gathering and harnessing this information is also an ongoing process and the safety management systems built on such understanding should by nature be dynamic.

By embracing the ArchDAMS approach and prioritising a deep understanding of your organisational context, you lay the groundwork for a safety management system that is not only compliant but genuinely effective.

This strategy fosters a safe, productive, and sustainable workplace by aligning safety protocols with the intricate realities of your operational environment.

The effectiveness of the ArchDAMS Approach stems from its alignment with the inherent structure of operations—a constellation of interlinked modules driven by a unified goal and supported by communal resources.

By overseeing every operation through Dutyholders endowed with concrete Accountability and equipped with appropriate Means to excel in every Sphere of operations, ArchDAMS solidifies a foundation for unparalleled safety success across all organisations. It creates robust barriers that control Hazards, mitigate Risks, and prevent Accidents, while subtly nurturing a beneficial Cultural flow.