S.m.s. And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

[T HORTON]

This s.m.s. #$it is just another way to pass the buck. It all boils down to taking a course, then filling in the right forms,copying a generic form and pretending that it will improve safety. I predict that the safety statistics will NOT change. There will still be the same types of problems that are given a new name and filed under a different name or number in the new @#%$ing filing cabinet that I have to buy for this stuff. Your thoughts?

[Skids Up]

This s.m.s. #$it is just another way to pass the buck. It all boils down to taking a course, then filling in the right forms,copying a generic form and pretending that it will improve safety. I predict that the safety statistics will NOT change.

 

 

Good attitude, probably not a good idea for you to take on the role of a safety officer... :down:

[Max Continuous]

If that's all your getting out of it, I would suggest that your not doing it right.

I do partially agree with you that it does seem sometimes that it's just paperwork and really won't change anything. And yes..it is full of shifting liabilities and C.Y.A.

But if you embrace the spirit of what It is trying to accomplish, you will find there are some very valid ideas and procedures. It is all about due diligence and forcing people and companies to comply with the safety systems that have always been here but sometimes not followed.

That is why we now must "prove" that these policies are being complied with. Hence the paper blizzard.

It's a change that is here to stay. You either "get on board" or "get out".

Also bear in mind that it is an open ended process. By that I mean it will always be evolving and changing as the industry accepts things that work and can be able to change things that don't.

One thing it does very well is to encourage free communication through out a company or industry.

As I said it's here to stay and if your company (hypothetically) has no interest in complying then they will be pretty red faced next time your oilfield contracts come up and your asked to produce your safety standards.

Yes, it can sometimes be a pain but......

My 2 cents,

Max

 

[Skids Up]

Max C.

 

It is all about due diligence and forcing people and companies to comply with the safety systems that have always been here but sometimes not followed.

 

 

I agree with 'almost' everything you said, except that we are finding that by education, training and support, that our people are 'changing on their own' so to speak. Not so much force needed as of yet...

 

We've had some good results, lots of input to the system and have raised the level of awareness (and I think) the overall safety of the company.

 

Are we perfect? Not yet! Will we ever be? Probably not. But we are all on the same page and that makes it work for us...

 

 

As I said it's here to stay and if your company (hypothetically) has no interest in complying then they will be pretty red faced next time your oilfield contracts come up and your asked to produce your safety standards.

 

This will probably get a few before it's all said and done. :oops:

 

 

[T HORTON]

I appreciate the responses. I was kind of blunt but I have seen a few safety programs that have started out with the best of intentions and then turned into a "check the box " exercise. See "Due diligence" on wikipedia. One definition says failure to follow due diligence is called negligence. Yet there has been one form of safety program or another for as long as I can remember. Have we all been negligent all this time? I hope this latest safety plan will change things . To my way of thinking it is like gun control. Big outlay in time and effort and money creating another level of bureaucracy but what will be the REAL results. Time will tell.

[koalaa119]

SMS will work and the more that it comes into force the more it will be obvious that company's are not doing what is required. Yes there is a paper overload in many cases and company's will have to have people dedicated to the position and they will have lots of work. But when hazards come in willingly and then those hazards are truely analayized and either the risks reduced or eliminated and this is documented then you can't say it isn't working. The biggest challenge I have seen from my little experience is two fold: One getting the employees to willingly and honestly look for hazards that are real and secondly to have the company willing to take the time and interest in them to honestly find out why they exist. The reality is that if a company isn't going to do these things then when they get audited they will fail. If you have little to no hazard reports and lots of incidents then things are backwards.

 

Eliminated or reducing the risks to an exceptable level starts with recognizing the hazard and then having the desire to deal with it. Gone is the day that we can say"it is the pilots or engineers fault". It is all about finding out a reason or reasons why something happened or existed and then striving to prevent it or mitigate the risk. If you are seening a return of the same issues, incidents or hazards, then your system isn't working. Don't give up on SMS. PHI I believe was a founder of it in the helicopter world before it even became law and they have a great safety record as far as I was told in one of my safety courses. It is here to help the company and the employee to have a safer working enviorment. Less accidents and incidents means greater profit and less downtime for the company and it means that we get to all go home at the end of our tour. But it will take all people, all employees and your company to make it work.

 

Koala

[Elan Head]

On the topic of SMS, we just wrapped up our online poll on the question "How much do you know about SMS?" The results:

 

"I know next to nothing about it" — 48%

 

"I'm familiar with the basics" — 31%

 

"I'm well-versed on SMS" — 21%

 

Obviously, a majority of people in the industry aren't totally up to speed on SMS, which can't be helping with the buy-in. We'll be putting together a short q-and-a-type article on SMS in the near future. If you have specific questions you'd like us to address, let me know! You can post here, shoot me a PM, or send an email to elan at verticalmag.com.

 

Cheers,

 

Elan

[212wrench]

Here's a good place to start

 

http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/SMS/FAQ/menu.htm

 

 

[Skids Up]

On the topic of SMS, we just wrapped up our online poll on the question "How much do you know about SMS?" The results:

 

Where did I miss that poll at???

[Elan Head]

Thanks, 212wrench!

 

Skids Up, we've been running the polls on our home page. The latest one is on helmets. Feel free to cast a vote!

 

Cheers,

 

Elan