Safe system of work
SSoW
The formal, considered procedure resulting from a systematic examination of a task, identifying the hazards and defining the safe method of doing it; the method statement is the written form.
The Health and Safety at Work Act requires employers to provide and maintain systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health. A safe system of work is what that looks like for a particular task: the task is examined systematically, the hazards identified, the controls decided, the method defined step by step, the people trained in it, and the system supervised and reviewed. In construction the method statement is the written safe system of work for a task, the permit to work is the safe system for high-risk tasks needing formal authorisation, and the toolbox talk is how the system is communicated.
The phrase matters in enforcement and litigation: the question after an accident is whether there was a safe system of work and whether it was followed. A method statement that describes a different sequence from the one used, a permit that was not walked, a briefing that was not given: each is the absence of a safe system, and the employer's duty is to provide one, not merely to write one.
Where it comes from
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.2(2)(a).
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 reg.5: arrangements for planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review.
Questions people ask
Is a method statement a safe system of work?
It is the written description of one. The system of work is the whole thing: the analysis, the method, the training, the supervision and the review. A method statement nobody follows is a document, not a system.
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