Defence acquisition safety and environment management
Ministry of Defence (MOD) Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) acquisition safety and environment management (ASEM).
Overview
The MOD’s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation is responsible for procuring and supporting the wide range of Products, Systems and Services used by the UK’s armed services. These must be fit for purpose in order to maximise capability. They must also be safe for the front line to use and maintain.
To that end, DE&S puts in place measures to ensure its projects achieve and maintain full compliance with safety and environmental requirements throughout a project’s life. This is achieved through application of the Acquisition Safety and Environmental Management System (ASEMS), which is mandated in DE&S. The outputs are used to achieve assurance by demonstrating that safety risks have been reduced to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) and Tolerable or Broadly Acceptable, and Best Practical Environmental Options are taken.
Corporate support is provided to DE&S managers in all aspects of Acquisition Safety and Environmental Protection by the Safety and Environmental Protection Team, which is responsible for policy, strategy, process and assurance. Their role also encompasses the production of reports and statistics to demonstrate that DE&S safety and environmental targets are being met and that appropriate progress is being made with continuous development and performance improvements. In addition, the Safety and Environmental Protection Team provide the lead in areas such as accident and incident reporting, learning from experience and organisational safety culture.
The Safety and Environmental Protection Team is a constituent part of the MOD DE&S Quality, Safety and Environmental Protection organisation, a functional group within the DE&S Engineering and Safety Directorate.
Acquisition Safety and Environmental Management System (ASEMS)
DE&S mandated requirements for managing Acquisition Safety and Environmental Protection are published as the DE&S Acquisition Safety and Environmental Management System (ASEMS).
ASEMS comprises 3 core parts:
- part 1 : Acquisition Safety and Environmental Protection Policy
- part 2 : instructions, guidance and support (including Project Oriented Environmental Management System (POEMS), Project Oriented Safety Management System (POSMS) and general management procedures)
- part 3 : Assurance and Audit.
ASEMS also contains supporting guidance material and external documents to help users with various system safety, environmental protection and sustainable procurement activities. Whilst ASEMS is written and published for defence, it can be viewed as open source and used where appropriate.
Access to ASEMS
Users can access ASEMS on the website. This provides users with the resources to assist DE&S delivery teams, contractors and advisors to manage safety and environmental risks within the DE&S procurement process.
Further Information
Further Acquisition Safety and Environmental Protection information can be found within Knowledge in Defence (KiD), available to defence personnel.
Contact details
Safety and Environmental Protection Policy and Standards Team
Quality, Safety and Environmental Protection (QSEP)
Directorate of Engineering and Safety (D ES)
Spruce 2c #1260
MoD Abbey Wood
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Email :
Updates to this page
Last updated 6 February 2020 + show all updates
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Updated the page with the latest information.
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First published.