What is a bridging document?

A bridging (or interface) document can be defined as: "a documented plan that defines how diverse organisations agree on which safety management elements will be used when co-operating on a project, contract or operation".

Bridging documents can be a useful tool to document how organisations contracted to work together on a project or contract manage their day-to-day work activities where both have developed safety management systems (SMS). There may be a requirement within local legislation (for example, in the construction industry) to create defined interface documents for projects or contracts, but here we consider a generic document that can be tailored to individual requirements.

The objectives of a bridging document are to ensure that:

• Operations or projects are planned and conducted in line with both organisations' SMSs.

• The organisations' SMSs do not conflict with each other.

• Where aspects of both organisations' SMSs are jointly used, that the interfaces are well defined and operable (that is, the identification of which components of the individual organisations' SMSs will be used during the project, contract or operation).

When developing a bridging document, consider the following in addition to the specific requirements of the document itself:

• Responsibilities: Who is responsible for the creation, review and approval of the document?

• Document revisions: Under what circumstances will the document be reviewed.

In order to provide a concise and relevant bridging document, it is recommended that only those elements that need to be agreed upon are included in it, although the document should cover all of the relevant aspects that apply to the specific project or contract which may include:

• Operational interfaces:

• Policy and objectives.

• Reporting structure.

• Operational and safety meetings.

• Training and induction.

• Hazard management:

• Risk assessment.

• Emergency equipment and systems.

• Planning:

• Project documentation.

• Emergency response.

• Implementation:

• Incident reporting.

• Permit-to-work.

• Personal protective equipment.

• Planned preventative maintenance.

• Waste management.

• Audits and inspections:

• Operational audits.

• Cross audits.