Design, Implementation and Audit of Health and Safety Management Systems

In today's complex work environments, occupational health and safety are critical concerns for all organizations. This title offers an in-depth exploration of creating, implementing, and evaluating structured safety management systems (SMS). As safety regulations and laws require every workplace to maintain a form of SMS, comprehensive guidance is provided here that offers the necessary foundations and detailed understanding of these essential systems.

This book is the go-to resource for upgrading and standardizing health and safety protocols. Covering over 60 elements crucial to a robust SMS and providing clear guidelines and practical examples for designing and implementing risk-based processes, programs, and standards, readers will gain insight into auditing these systems to ensure compliance with local and international standards, such as ISO 45001-2018. The text, featuring real-world experiences across various industries, emphasizes a proactive approach to safety, moving beyond reactive measures such as injury rates. Updated to reflect contemporary changes to SMSs and with modifications to every section on goals and KPI’s for safety, this book provides a practical roadmap for integrating SMS into daily operations, ensuring a safer and more compliant workplace.

The Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems is ideal for safety professionals, organizational leaders, and anyone responsible for workplace safety, especially for those in high-risk industries.

Ron C. McKinnon, CSP (1999–2016), is an internationally experienced and acknowledged safety professional, author, motivator, and presenter. He has been extensively involved in safety research concerning the cause, effect, and control of accidental loss, near‑miss incident reporting, accident investigation, safety promotion, and the implementation of health and safety management systems for the last 46 years.

Ron C. McKinnon received a National Diploma in Technical Teaching from the Pretoria College for Advanced Technical Education, a Diploma in Safety Management from the Technikon SA, South Africa, and a Management Development Diploma (MDP) from the University of South Africa, in Pretoria. He received a Master’s degree in Safety and Health Engineering from Columbia Southern University.

From 1973 to 1994, Ron C. McKinnon worked at the National Occupational Safety Association of South Africa (NOSA), the originators of one of the first risk‑based, management‑led, and audit‑driven systems, the NOSA 5‑Star Health and Safety Management System, in various capacities, including General Manager of Operations and then Marketing. He is experienced in the implementation of health and safety management systems, auditing, and safety culture change interventions. During his tenure with NOSA, he gained valuable experience in auditing safety management systems in numerous countries.

From 1995 to 1999, Ron C. McKinnon was a safety consultant and safety advisor to Magma Copper and BHP Copper North America, respectively. In 2001, Ron spent 2 years in Zambia introducing world’s best safety practices to the copper mining industry.

After spending 2 years in Hawaii at the Gemini Observatory, he returned to South Africa. He recently contracted as the Principal Consultant to Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Riyadh, to implement a world’s best practice safety management system (Aligned to OHSAS 18,001) throughout its operations across the Kingdom involving 33,000 employees, 27,000 contractors, 9 consultants, and 70 Safety Engineers.

Ron C. McKinnon is the author of Cause, Effect and Control of Accidental Loss (2000), Safety Management, Near Miss Identification, Recognition and Investigation (2012), Changing the Workplace Safety Culture (2014), and Risk‑based, Management‑led, Audit‑driven Safety Management Systems (2016), A Practical Guide to Effective Workplace Accident Investigation (2022), Measuring Safety Management Performance (2024), all published by CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, USA. He is also the author of Changing Safety’s Paradigms, published in 2007 by Government Institutes, USA, and the second edition published in 2018.

Ron C. McKinnon is a retired professional member of the ASSP (American Society of Safety Professionals) and an honorary member of the Institute of Safety Management. He is currently a health and safety management system consultant, safety culture change agent, motivator, and trainer. He is often a keynote speaker at safety conferences and consults international organizations.