When all three life cycles have developed up to the point of
use of the barrier, an additional five safety management issues
become pertinent. For instance, when procedures for a barrier
have been developed, they should be adequately adhered
to. In the ARAMIS audit, the management system concerned
with commitment and conflict resolution has been defined
for this purpose. Another management system is involved
in the planning of work and allocating competent people to
it (availability), whilst a system for inspection and maintenance
monitors the barriers in operation. Also, when several
people are involved in the use or maintenance of barriers,
communication systems have to be in place, to ensure appropriate
interaction. Finally, experiences gained during operation
or maintenance or due to incidents, accidents or other
new insights, should be used for changing and improving
the whole safety management system. This learning process
copes with one aspect of change. In addition, the company
Fig. 1. Overview of barrier management delivery systems.
may decide to change its technology, process or management
systems, to improve productivity or other company objectives,
to profit from good practice elsewhere or to develop
new markets. All of these system changes may require new
or modified barriers or adjustments to management systems.
These change processes require careful management, which
partially repeats the processes of risk analysis and barrier
selection described earlier. They are all considered part of
the learning system.
The nine systems summed up above define the safety
management system that is assessed in the ARAMIS audit.
Together these systems deliver the controls and resources for
proper barrier functioning and which should prevent (major
hazard) scenarios from happening. Therefore, these management
systems are appropriately called in the ARAMIS audit
‘delivery systems’. In Fig. 1, these delivery systems and their
relationships are shown.
Delivery systems can also be envisioned as being concerned
with hardware barriers or behavioural (elements of)
barriers. In that case the life cycle of barriers, including
inspection and maintenance, would be considered the hardware
side of barriers, whereas the behavioural side would
be supported by the delivery systems procedures, manpower
planning, competence, commitment and communication.
These delivery systems all presume some human
involvement in barrier operation. This distinction between
hardware and behavioural barriers and their related management
delivery systems is made in the ARAMIS audit as well.