Sustainability in Business

 The Role of the Health and Safety (and sometimes Environmental as well!) Officer

 I have recently come across a post by a friend of mine, Edwin Lewis, who is a health and safety officer in a large construction company. I think his thoughts on how health and safety officer are often perceived by management is true in many cases. They appoint health and safety officers not knowing what their actual roles in the organization should be. They are looking for "policeman" who will make sure that employees use their PPE and that they follow procedures.

I am posting the following with Edwin's permission:

"The following post is after having another discussion with a director from a well known firm, and had a heated debate on the role of a Safety Officer, and of course which i won.

What does "Health And Safety Officers" do ?

The answers have always been the "Hardhat mentality ".  We only exist and are perceived as, "to make sure employees wear a hard hats and required personal protective equipment."

So now let me address this issue and give the normality a little lesson:

Our Most important purpose is creating, enacting, and updating job safety programmes for employees that encompass government health and safety regulations as well as company standards for safety in the workplace. We train employees on the importance of health and safety on the job.

We are the lawyers for our employers when required. We need to know the system and have potential creative, on the spot solutions to solve problems arising from all types of scenarios.

We carry the burden of the employer and have the passion to pull through the work loads and challenges we face daily. We battle against 98 % of employees in a work place to create a Safe, Healthy and Positive culture. We mostly stand alone, but we never complain.

We are the doctors, psychologist and family in our various Fields.

From the above we also do:

• Auditing production, keeping on the lookout for any unsafe behaviour or breaks in regulations;
• Assessing risk and possible safety hazards of all aspects of operations;
• Creating analytical reports of safety data;
• Inspecting production equipment and processes to make sure they are safe;
• Ordering repairs for unsafe and/or damaged equipment;
• Focusing on prevention by keeping up with equipment maintenance and employee training;
• Presenting safety principles to staff in meetings or lecture-type training sessions;
• Participating in continuing education to update knowledge of health and safety protocols and techniques;
• Determining whether the finished product is safe for customers
• Creating safety plans that include suggested improvements to existing infrastructure and business processes;
• Sharing information, suggestions, and observations with project leadership to create consistency in safety standards throughout the production team and the entire company;
• Meeting company health and safety goals;
• Investigating causes of accidents and other unsafe conditions on the job site;
• Liaising with law enforcement and other investigators who are present at the time of a serious accident;
• Finding the best way to prevent future accidents;
• Reviewing and reporting on the staff's compliance with health and safety rules and recommending commendations or dismissal based on performance.
• The next time you see a Safety Officer, see past the "Where is your hard hat” mindset.  We are more than you think.

Believe it, Intelligence is needed."

I believe that Edwin is right in the case of many managers. We need to create an awareness of the real role of the health and safety officer in organizations, irrespective of the industry sector that they are working in. Management needs to understand and appreciate why health and safety officers are there, and I include junior management here.

Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me with your thoughts.

Until next time!

Koos

koosgouws10@gmail.com