I am a bit concerned about your post in that the alternatives appear to be "buying in" or "in house". Your management system MUST BE "in house". Sure you could get consultants in but the system would have to be about YOUR organisation, and be managed day to day in house. Possibly the question you were really asking was which management system model to use - they are all pretty similar in basic structure. (Incidentally the MHSWR reg 5 requires most of the elements of HSG 65 ie planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review). I would suggest using HSG 65 as your model, or OHSAS 18001 or ILO-OSH 2001. Take the model and break it down, then devise a questionaire (I use a spreadsheet). For each element ask the questions 1) What is needed 2) What have we got (is it adequate) 3) What is needed to meet the standard. This is often referred to as a gap analysis! The gaps become your improvement plan and TADA! The easy part is done. Inmcidentally you can use this process without going for certification, merely use the standards as the basis for your management system. Now for the hard part .......... implementing the changes and making them stick and work. Hope this helps.

Nope, you've both missed the point. Although I was talking about a safety management system, in the context that I ws using it I hoped that it was understood that I was refering the software for storing and controlling information in an SMS. Of course the SMS will be set up and controlled in-house but you can buy in the software that helps you manage the information. Alternatively you can get your own internal H&S bods to create an in-house information mangement system. I have been asked to present both options. I already have all the ISO docs thanks. So to be more precise, can anyone recommend any SOFTWARE SMS packages that they have been satisfied with? Thanks

I'm not sure that was necessary Pikeman. I did post what I believed to be the right question. In the context I wrote it (ie buying in a system) an SMS could be assumed to be a software SMS. That has certainly not been misinterpreted before when I previously posted about it. I'm sorry if you feel I was wasting your time. Perhaps you also did not read the question carefully enough in the context it was written in. I would prefer to get back to my question if that's alright. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. Me too. Anyone any suggestions?

Do a search on 'assessnet' as I recall responding to a similar question and that is one of the products I mentioned in my reply. I found two threads but once you open a thread the search results seem to disappear... :-( As you are no doubt aware, commercial packages come in many configurations and are generally not cheap. However, you would need considerable IT and programming support to replicate some of these in house. (in my view) A

I typically put together a SMS in PDF format using PDF writer and use bookmark/hyperlink navigation to supporting documentation/records etc as required.

Plus you have an added bonus of restricted access,print function and password protection to open.

When I posted that I was an advocate of KISS I meant "Keep It Simple S....." not realising that someone had produced software under that name!! Thanks for enlightening me Victor. I agree with Bleve that a simple PDF system is the best option.