1. Director Policy & Standards International Railway Safety Conference
  Developing the competency of managers in the field of safety management  
Aidan Nelson
Director Policy & Standards
International Railway Safety Conference
October 2002

2. Competence……
The ability to undertake responsibilities and to perform activities to a recognised standard on a regular basis
A product of practical and thinking skills, experience and knowledge, which is influenced by personal attributes such as attitudes, beliefs and values

3. Continuous improvement……
A person, a team of people or an organisation is competent when they work consistently to an expected level of performance.
Expected levels of performance change over time
Competence and a positive safety culture require aligned values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours

4. Senior management teams: why?
Past focus on competence too narrow
Assessment criteria underpinning Railway Safety Case Regulations (2000)
Due diligence and organisational learning
Evidence of repeating management and system failures
Ladbroke Grove Inquiry: “Where it is not already in place, a safety management strategic leadership team should be established in each company in the industry” (part two, recommendation 14)
Recommendation 14 – to be implemented by the rail industry within 6 months
“Where it is not already in place, a safety management strategic leadership team should be established in each company in the industry. Such a team should be lead by the Chief Executive and include his or her direct reports, with support from the safety professionals. It should consider the strategic management process for safety by holding regular meetings devoted to health and safety issues. It should be the key group in the organisation for setting goals, monitoring performance and assessing and resourcing the needs of the organisation to ensure that the long-term objectives are met.”

5. Research suggests senior management teams
Are technically competent but lack general management skills
Constant change means they have little time for building on experience and preventing repeat mistakes
Lack formal processes for risk assessment other than financial
Increasingly need to be able to identify key data to make decisions / measure performance

6. “Strategic safety management” describes the way a senior team
Directs how safety is managed within the business
Sets goals for safety performance
Sets aside the organisation’s resources to achieve these goals
Controls safety performance

7. Aims
Support improvement in the competence of senior teams to manage safety strategically
Help senior teams deliver their Railway Safety Case commitments
Assist the development of a progressive safety culture in individual organisations and the wider industry
Support continuous improvement in safety performance at all levels in the rail industry

8. Philosophy Safety management is but one aspect of risk management
Risk is inherent in business processes
Safety performance can be continuously improved
Cultural issues must not be swept under the carpet
What are we not doing that we should be?

9. Good practice guides
Advisory not mandatory, focus is maintaining and improving safety performance, not compliance
Self-assessment processes not external audit
Can be tailored to meet an organisation’s needs

10. What’s in the SSM good practice?
A description of what all senior teams need to be able to do
A recommended process for self-assessment and improvement
Guidance and tools

13. SSM software
Automates SSM self-assessment process and gives senior teams the ability to….
Assess their competence and performance from a number of perspectives
Predict team performance given its current composition and structure
Make a range of useful comparisons

14. Companies are now using the results to:
Develop senior team & company performance
Clarify the organisation’s strategic safety management priorities and identify how best to meet them
Test if company safety plans are fit for purpose
Decide what the team needs to do and how individual members can contribute
Review how the team makes & acts on decisions
Identify training & development needs of existing & prospective senior managers

16. Developments In-company ‘kick start’ briefings
Mentoring programme: confidential and independently delivered
Closer links with other leadership initiatives
Challenging the “unwritten rules” of railway safety
Assimilating results to enable 2nd edition software & 3rd edition of the good practice guides to be released in December 2002

17. With particular thanks to:
Competence Assurance Solutions
Heathrow Express
Railtrack GWZ
GNER
Thameslink
London Lines
AMEC
JacksonEve
DRS
South Central Trains
First NW
Anglia Railways
Scotrail
SW Trains
Alstom
Eurostar
Carillion
Thales

18. Want to know more?