december2021january2022 - 16

INDUSTRY EXPERT
COLUMN
Safety Leadership's Critical Function in SMS
The presence of deliberate leadership in a safety management system may mean
the difference between a system that works to bring risk under organizational
control and one that is relegated to a manual that sits on the shelf collecting dust.
By Jason Starke
W
hen an organization embarks on
implementing a safety management
system (SMS), it is very careful that
the policies, processes and procedures
to support the four components and 12 elements
are developed and addressed. Project plans are
developed and a champion(s) is assigned to ensure
not one single item is missed in fear of creating a
system that is ineffective or incomplete. Likewise,
for those organizations that have already implemented
safety management, great lengths are gone
to through self- or external evaluation to ensure
all components and elements are being addressed
through the implemented framework.
However, even with careful attention paid to the
promulgated SMS framework, an important element
seems to be missed - leadership. This may be difficult
to resolve as leadership is not a discrete element on an
SMS implementation plan or SMS evaluation, but is
critical to the success of a functioning and effective
system to manage safety.
In reality, leadership is implied in the SMS framework
under two of the four components. In the first
component - safety policy and objectives - leadership
is a substantial part of management commitment.
Under this element, leadership is called out to provide
critical resources, establish risk tolerability, hold managers
accountable to safety management responsibilities,
establish safety objectives for the organization and
develop a positive safety culture in the organization
(ICAO, 2018). Under the fourth component - safety
promotion - leadership is charged with engendering
engagement in the safety management system through
the provision of training resources and supporting rich
communication across the organization (ICAO, 2018).
In other words, leadership - specifically, what can
be referred to as safety leadership - is a critical part
of the safety management system that should not be
overlooked if the organization wants to implement
and maintain a robust SMS.
Before diving into how leadership impacts the
safety management system, it is first important to
state that leadership is not the same as management.
Management is a function where resources are guided/
16 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022
allocated/procured to accomplish tasks in support of
the overall mission of the organization. Management is
a function of position in the organization and usually
comes with status and privileges commensurate with
the position.
Leadership, on the other end, is not a function of
position but rather influence (Bass et al., 2008; Northouse,
2019). Leadership is about influencing and rallying
followers to perform in support of understood
and accepted organizational goals. There are many
approaches to leadership that have been researched
in academia to determine the impact on performance
each one has, but the important point here is what
leadership is and the importance of leadership in
sustaining a safety management system.
The presence of deliberate leadership in the SMS
may mean the difference between a system that works
to bring risk under organizational control and one
that is relegated to a manual that sits on the shelf
collecting dust.
Regarding leadership approaches, there is one that
is very counterproductive to developing and sustaining
a robust SMS. This leadership style is referred to as
laissez-faire leadership, which is a hands-off approach
in terms of influencing and guiding. While this leadership
style may be acceptable, and even preferred, as
a general leadership style in some of the more " hip "
organizations, this approach can be detrimental to the
development and sustainment of a robust SMS.
A safety management system needs deliberate,
hands-on leadership to thrive. This is not an invitation
to micro-management - remember leadership and
management are two different things - but rather a call
for intentional engagement. However, worse than laissez-faire
leadership would be leadership that actively
did not care about the SMS or is even antagonistic
about the SMS. Where laissez-faire suggests handsoff,
leadership that is contra to safety management
efforts is hands-on in a negative way.
However, whether leadership is not present in
developing and maintaining the SMS or leadership
is not accepting and opposed to safety management,
something called a SWAMP safety culture can
develop. I first heard this term from Terry Yeomans,
december2021january2022

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