Documentation And SMS

By Didrik Strand offroadpilots@gmail.com
Documentation is the core support of a Safety Management System (SMS). This is the chosen method to recall plans, policies, objectives, goals and parameters, and a tool to recall future plans.
The policies, objectives and goals of an SMS plan are completed products for operational applications, while the blueprints of an SMS plan are located within the planning, the brainstorming  and description of the plan.   
The Blueprint is what makes the outcome.
Blueprints may be changed. The intent of an SMS plan is to maintain it and not to change it. If looking at an SMS plan as a home that was just built, the plan is maintained by changing paint colors, or rearranging furniture.  A system failure of the plan would be if a home required 6 bedrooms, but only 3 were built. This is a structural issue where regular maintenance does not change the layout, and a complete structural change, or system change is required. The intent of an SMS plan is therefore to be maintained and not to be restructured until a Management Review of Operational Masterplan identifies necessary system changes.


When making the blueprints for an SMS plan applicable regulatory and operational requirements are identified. A completed SMS plan has established processes for continuing identification of regulatory and operational requirements.
If an SMS plan is on track then it is on track, if not then someone knows.
A completed SMS plan is distributed to personnel as identified in organizational charts. The plan may be fully or partially distributed, based on personnel SMS involvements.
A property serviced and "well greased" SMS plan is functioning effectively. There might be times when it appears that an SMS plan is an additional operational cost. As any operational plans, including accounting, business planning and employee staffing there are costs involved. What an SMS plan does, is to bring to light a costs-anomaly incurred but not identified. The cost of an SMS plan is time spent on going back to the blueprints to change processes when the processes are ineffective.  Time spent on the SMS plan blueprints is therefore tracked as a time-cost value to identify effect on profit margin. An SMS plan itself is just documentation to recall how the organization is functioning.

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