A safety intervention system is defined and formed by seven necessary elements. While a worker is the vehicle for implementing safety intervention, the effectiveness of that person’s work within a case by case context is directly proportionate to how well this system framework operates. The Safety Intervention System Framework is responsible for defining, guiding, overseeing and supporting safety intervention.
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Policy
Rules and regulations form the boundaries within which safety intervention operates. Policy identifies in specific terms what safety intervention entails, what must be done. Policy assures statutory standards are applied. Policy establishes expectations concerning acceptable practices, decision-making, and time frames. Policy sets forth the philosophy and values that support safety intervention.
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Procedure
Procedure determines how safety intervention is to be done. Procedures set forth how practice is to occur; how relationships and interactions with clients are to be maintained; what information is to be collected; how decisions are to be made; and when actions and decisions are to occur. Procedures provide methods for completing safety intervention work and step-by-step guidance for implementing safety intervention.
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Information System
The information system provides structure for directing safety intervention and accountability for how safety intervention is occurring. The information system reveals the picture of the reality of safety intervention implementation case by case and collectively as a program.
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Staff Development
Staff development, typically in the form of training, prepares staff to implement safety intervention. Staff development promotes policy and procedure and advances the understanding and application of acceptable safety intervention practices and decision-making. Staff development occurs as a process of readying staff to assume responsibility for safety intervention and continues to reinforce the development of competence and mastery.
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Supervision
Supervision assures the effective implementation of safety intervention. Supervision provides oversight case by case to regulate practice and decision-making and evaluates individual as well as safety intervention model performance. Supervision supplies support and guidance to staff through case and general consultation focused on case practice and decision-making and building staff competency. The supervisor serves as the primary authority concerning the interpretation of safety intervention and approval of actions taken and decisions made.
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Program Management
Program management provides leadership that creates the safety intervention approach and establishes the necessary structure to carry it out. Program management puts in place the components of the safety intervention model; promulgates that which gives safety intervention form and function; generates sufficient resources to effectively implement safety intervention; and assures the effectiveness of safety management across all cases.
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Quality Assurance
Continuous review and adjustment is a necessary part of assuring the effectiveness and necessary modification of a safety intervention system. Quality assurance evaluates safety intervention practice and decision-making against standards that form the safety intervention model and guide casework practice and decision-making. Quality assurance provides feedback to management in order to control quality, establish benchmarks for competency, and reveal the need for adjustment or enhancement.