Safety Directors' Forum

The purpose of the Safety Directors’ Forum (SDF):

The purpose of the Safety Directors’ Forum (SDF) is for the industry to work together to identify the key strategic Health, Safety, Security, Safeguards, Environment and Quality (HSSSEQ) facing the nuclear industry and identify the appropriate industry response.

Responses could be direct to Government, Regulators, the Customer (NDA, MoD) etc. and could range from presentations, letters and papers to delegations.

Facilitate sharing and understanding of:

• Key nuclear environment, radiological, industrial, safety, health, security, safeguards and quality (HSSSEQ) issues;
• The implications of recent experiences (including, but not solely incidents);
• Regulatory developments and responses to them;
• Cultural and leadership approaches in addition to technical and engineering matters. 

Promote co-operation across the nuclear industry on policy, strategy and technical matters where this is beneficial. Mechanisms for co-operation include:

• Using existing industry groups;
• Establishing ad hoc co-operation and ‘issue leaders’ as necessary.

Work with the Regulators in order to agree common goals, priorities, process in the pursuit of excellence. In particular, ensure that solutions are proportionate to the risk and cost effective when deployed.

Drive a continuous improvement culture for HSSSEQ across the industry.

Act as "sponsor" of and keep under review "Sub Groups" (SGs), to ensure they remain necessary and are operating effectively. Output in the form of documentation will also be kept under review for applicability, proportionality and effectiveness. Each SG will have an individual Director nominated to be the SDF Sponsor

Click here for a copy of the full Terms of Reference  for the SDF (updated June 2017).

The SDF also has separate Terms of Reference for meetings with Regulators - SDF-Regulatory Terms of Reference - April 2017

Vision

 To promote and maintain a safe, secure, sustainable UK Nuclear Industry.

Mission

 The Safety Directors’ Forum is a voluntary organisation whose primary objectives, through collaboration, are to:

• Provide guidance to support operations across the whole lifecycle of the UK’s nuclear facilities so they are conducted safely, securely and with care for the environment and with a proportionate approach to risk;
• Drive continuous improvement in the safety, security and environmental standards applied across the UK’s nuclear industry through sharing good practice;
• Inform and influence Government Policy and regulatory approaches to ensure they are proportionate to the risks

Leadership and Management for Safety (LMfS) 

There have been many approaches to establishing the optimum model for effective leadership and management for safety¹ (LMfS) within nuclear licensee businesses. Many organisations have developed their own models with most being based on the widely recognised frameworks developed by IAEA, WANO, INPO and the view of ONR. This note briefly outlines the key areas that, in the view of the UK Safety Directors Forum, should be addressed in an organisation’s approach to effective leadership and management for safety. It is not prescriptive in approach but rather an outline of the key attributes that would be expected in an organisation that has developed an effective approach to the leadership and management of safety.

LMfS Principles

1. The organisation has a clear vision which is supported by clear business objectives and develops goals and strategies for their delivery. It should be clear that as part of the vision and the objectives, safety is an overriding priority.
2. Policies and standards are established and implemented that support safety.
3. The organisation has clear values and associated behaviours that support safety and these are openly promoted and upheld throughout the organisation.
4. Leadership attributes at all levels throughout the organisation are clear and there is clear accountability for the delivery of the business requirements and the required safety performance.
5. A management system is developed that ensures all processes and procedures deliver the required standards of quality and safety performance, with safety being a primary consideration in decision making.
6. The organisational capability and resources support the required business strategy and associated safety requirements.
7. The management of the supply chain supports the delivery of quality and safety.
8. Key performance indicators are effectively utilised to manage the business and safety performance.
9. Oversight and challenge of organisational performance is in place and welcomed.
10. There is a clear culture of continuous improvement and learning and action for improvement is timely and effective.

¹ “Safety” is interpreted as all forms of safety, quality, environmental protection and security, however it should be recognised that given the special nature of the potential nuclear hazard, nuclear safety should always be the overriding priority.

Please click the link below to download these principles as a document (PDF, 102kb)

 SDF Leadership and Management for Safety Principles - Jan 2018

The Forum has a strong focus on improvement across the industry. It has in place a number of subject-specific sub-groups looking in detail at issues facing the industry.

• Facilitate continuous improvement opportunities within the member organisations by sharing best practices in respect of operational safety standards and implementation arrangements
• To formulate agreed industry policies and practices
• Provide a forum for the effective sharing of knowledge and experience

The following sub-groups have pages on this website - follow the link in the acronym to visit the sub-groups page:

Publications Library

Safety Directors Forum

The SDF consists of senior leaders from every current nuclear site licence holder in the UK, prospective nuclear site licence holders, and every MoD authorised nuclear site.

The current chair is Pam Duerden (Nuclear Restoration Services) supported by vice chairs, Mark Treasure (EDF Energy) and Paul Rees (AWE Aldermaston). Meetings are held on a quarterly basis, the full SDF Terms of Reference can be found here.

Chair: Pam R. Duerden

Vice Chair: Paul Rees

Vice Chair: Mark Treasure

Safety Directors Forum-Regulator (SDF-R) Meeting

The SDF-R meeting is the primary interface between the SDF and senior members of the relevant regulators (ONR, EA, SEPA, NRW, DNSR).

Meetings are held biannually, full terms of reference can be found here.