Safety Management Complexity: A Systems Thinking Approach

This paper uses systems thinking techniques and visualizations to describe the purpose and key components of effective safety management systems. The paper identifies the elements, actors, and relationships that compose safety management systems and discusses the importance of the social, organizational, and behavioral dynamics from which safety culture emerges. A formal system model, a systemigram, will illustrate the purpose and multi-dimensionality of a safety management system and a non-linear multi-loop diagram captures the interrelations among its agents and the reinforcing and balancing forces that contribute to system dynamics. Concurrent and paradoxical attributes of safety management systems and safety culture are revealed. The paper concludes by advocating for the application of systems thinking, multi-disciplinary technical rigor, strong organizational culture, and finally and perhaps most importantly, a participative approach when optimizing complex systems and system-of-systems for safety.