Abstract
The concept of a “safe system of work” (SSW), sometimes known as a “system of work that is safe”, is often a required risk control in countries that follow English common law or that have Robens-style legislation, but it sits low in the hierarchy of controls. A request for advice on what constitutes a safe system of work led to a literature search that found no commonly accepted description or generic model for a safe system of work.
 A literature search for SSW was carried out, including the origins of the concept and its use in statute and common law in the UK and New Zealand (NZ). Findings suggested a systems management approach to develop a tentative goal tree (part of the Theory of Constraints) to structure the themes. The goal tree was tested iteratively using a set of small-scale case studies.
 The literature and research showed that a safe system should control how an individual work activity is carried out as it forms part of a larger health and safety management system. The tentative goal tree was found to provide a framework within which the case studies could be analysed and compared. It appeared to be applicable to other cases in a range of workplaces and to enable testing of a planned or existing system of work to help decide if a proposed system of work was “safe”.
 The literature review provided background to the concept of a safe system of work and enabled development of a tentative goal tree to help plan or test a safe system of work.
Highlights
In 2019, a prosecution involving harm to workers led to a request to Christopher Pearce for advice about the meaning of a “safe system of work” (SSW) required under New Zealand (NZ) legislation
In WorkSafe NZ v Precision Animal Supplements Limited, 2018), a case involving exposure to dust (Justice Roberts decided: It was reasonably practicable for the company to have: a) Developed, documented, implemented and communicated an adequate safe system of work. b) Provide and maintain a safe work environment that minimised the exposure of the workers to substances hazardous to health. c) Adequately monitored the ongoing health of workers to identify any changes in their health status due to exposure to substances hazardous to health
The origin for this research was a request for advice on what constitutes a SSW under the NZ Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
Summary
In 2019, a prosecution involving harm to workers led to a request to Christopher Pearce for advice about the meaning of a “safe system of work” (SSW) required under NZ legislation. CP researched the literature and drafted the paper. SSW, confirming that “what constitutes, or should have constituted, a safe system of work is often clearer with hindsight” At a time when the boundaries of occupational health and safety (OHS) are expanding to include mental health, it is not satisfactory for stakeholders to have no clear idea what may constitute a SSW. This led to the pragmatic research question: what constitutes a safe system of work under the requirements of Robens-style legislation?
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