New IWFM guidance – Safety Management Systems  

News

Available from Monday 28 July 

Workplace and facilities teams play a leading role in delivering a safe working culture in any organisation. Understanding safety issues, managing risk, training teams and implementing safe working practices takes planning, constant monitoring and the right tools to ensure compliance and good record-keeping in a tightly regulated operational landscape.  

A safety management system (SMS) can help to drive that culture through every level of an organisation, but understanding how to scope, choose and implement an SMS means engaging with a huge range of disciplines. That’s why IWFM has partnered with Ark Workplace Risk to create this new, free guidance. 

Ark’s Director of Regulatory, Technical & Technology Solutions, David Hills, said: ‘In a landscape where regulation is tightening and accountability is non-negotiable, safety management systems are no longer a nice-to-have, they are business-critical. This guidance has been designed to demystify safety leadership and equip organisations at every level with the clarity, confidence and competence to act. At Ark, we’ve supported some of the UK’s most complex and high-profile portfolios, and our message remains the same: safety isn’t just a system, it’s a culture. We’re proud to partner with IWFM to help shape that culture across the built environment.’ 

Who is the guidance for? 

Safety Management Systems is invaluable for anyone working in the workplace and facilities management (WFM) sector.  If you’re in a leadership role, you have a duty to provide a safe working environment for your frontline people, which extends to anyone on site.  

If you’re in an operational or frontline role, you’ll be responsible not only for your own safety, but also for that of your colleagues and anyone on site. Understanding and adopting best practice in safety management helps you to assess safety risks and to manage those risks carefully. So that if you are ever in the situation where someone is placed in danger or injured, you'll know that you took every possible step to avoid it.  

If you’re looking to move up the career ladder, understanding why organisations place such importance on safety management systems will be key to your CPD journey, as you’ll become responsible for implementing and enforcing these systems, not just using them day-to-day. 

And organisations should use this guidance to inspire, and demand, a culture of safety at every level. It will help to embed safety leadership, communication and risk management into everyday operations. If you’re looking to upskill your teams or align with BSI Flex 8670 and ISO 45001 standards, you should view it as required reading. 

 

Download here from 28 July. 

 

Understanding risk 

You can find out more about workplace risk in our series of webinars, in partnership with Ark Workplace Risk. 

Structural Risk Management within the wider environment 
Safety management systems in facilities 
Demystifying Section 156 of the BSA 
Risk Management and Building Safety Management Systems 

Further training 

And for further training, the IWFM Academy course on IOSH managing safely is designed for managers and supervisors. This live, virtual training course will get you up to speed on the practical actions you need to take to handle health and safety within your team. The course delivers practical step-by-step guidance with a sharp business focus that’s hands-on and jargon-free. We’ll be launching a new e-learning option soon, so watch this space.  

Book the course here