This discussion paper presents an introduction to safety management systems (SMS) as they apply to transportation organisations across modes and industries, and provides a broad overview of SMS and its processes, activities and tools. The discussion is grounded on conceptual foundations, but...

In almost all cases, the transport industry has adopted safety management systems (SMS) in response to a regulatory initiative. SMS vary dramatically across transport modes and jurisdictions - often because of the influence of different legacy regulatory programmes, and the attendant cultures....

This paper discusses obstacles faced in implementing SMS and uses concrete examples to show how to overcome them across all modes of transport (air, maritime, rail and road) in leading countries, particularly ITF member countries. The difficulties and problems in implementing SMS can originate...

System resilience is the ability for complex, dynamic-adaptive socio-technical systems to absorb and rebound from trauma or stress, and to avoid "jousting with dragons" where results are uncertain and often fatal. In a safety context, the term "dragons" originates from Professor David Woods at...

Since every Safety Management System (SMS) is intended to provide a framework by which an organisation manages risk, it is inevitable that accident investigators will take a close interest. The good investigator will always want to understand how the SMS was intended to control risk and how this...