Safety as part of the job

Safety and health professionals are required as part of the job function to be critical as well as creative thinkers. Often activities within the safety and health function require creativity to resolve the issue or simply to keep employees from being bored with the subject matter. Sometimes the answers are not in the book and the safety and health professional is expected to use his or her gray matter to think and identify creative safety and health solutions to address and rectify unique circumstances or situations. 

While you are unlikely to experience any physiological effects from eating the poppy seeds on a bagel, they could cost you your job For some safety sensitive jobs, such as nursing and truck-driving, you may be required to take a drug test as part of the interview process. 

Finally, the research examined below tends to link variables within cases for example, data on accidents, age, and job tenure are collected from the same employee (sample of employees) and correlated. While this research clearly shows that new employees suffer accidents, it potentially misses the impact of new employees on their co-workers safety. It is also very likely that some of the accidents suffered by employees that have been working for an organization for some time (what might be termed seiuor employees) may involve a new employee as part of the causal mechanism. Indeed, responsibiUly for industrial fatalities/ accidents has been associated with the fellow worker for over 100 years (see Eastman 1910 Swuste et al. 2010). Thus, overall, new employees are both a safety risk to themselves and potentially a safety risk to all employees in an organization. 

Previously, in this chapter, I have described how cumulative job tenure can help develop realistic safety expectations. Clearly, the school leaver applicant has not had the opportunity to adjust their safe expectations based on previous work experience. However, educators and parents can play an important role in safety-specific expectation setting. Parents and educators can deliver key messages about workplace safety either informally as part of parenting or formally as part of the school curriculum activities. While parents may not have a legal responsibility to ensure their child s safety at work, as parents they do have a moral responsibility. School system education in occupational health and safety has been called for by a number of authors (e.g., American Public Health Association 1995 Bush and Baker... 

It is important that middle-level managers know how accidents happen and, specifically, how they can prevent the incidents as part of the overall program picture. Additionally, middle-level managers want to know how much time and effort will be required to perform these specific tasks. Middle-level managers and supervisors are often heard saying, I already have more than enough to do, and now Fm responsible for safety. Isn t that the safety person s job . 

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which created NIOSH, established three roles for epidemiology as part of the Institute s scientific expertise, the article notes field epidemiology under the Health Hazard Evaluation program epidemiology in large studies across multiple sites and surveillance for job-related disease and injury. 

None of our interview respondents had first-hand experience working at smaller carriers, but some had interacted with smaller carriers as part of their jobs e.g., with their airlines connection partners. In general, there was a consensus that safety performance was probably not vastly different at smaller carriers, but that the smaller operators are probably not as safe on average as the major carriers, because fewer resources are available. However, two respondents noted that some small airlines have safety records just as good as those of the major carriers. One respondent specifically pointed out that different challenges require different management approaches, but that with suitable management, small airlines can still achieve top performance. 

Duty holder, someone who has a duty of care for health, safety and welfare matters on-sIte. This phrase recognizes the level of responsibility which electricians are expected to take on as part of their job in order to control electrical safety in the work environment. 

The domains of knowledge for safety professionals are not static, but are continually changing. Changes have broadened responsibilities, not reduced them. One example involves impacts following the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001. Most companies have increased attention to security. In some cases, safety professionals find elements of security now as part of their job description. 

PPE necessary for particular work must be made available at the employer s expense. A risk assessment of particular tasks, as part of a job safety analysis, is a key step in this process. 

In many industries, eonfined space entry is a routine part of the job. In others, it may only be an oeea-sional necessity. Sadly, bid awards for confined spaee attendants are not based upon the training and skill development of these professionals, but on those who are the lowest paid. As a result, recruiting and competency in this trade wanes and so follows the level of safety. Furthermore, employers should include attendant personnel in regular safety training and objectively evaluate their competencies at least annually. 

Training, education, and competence Is the company program that gives safety awareness and understanding of how to use system safety as part of each employee s daily activities and ensuring each employee s safety competence is appropriate for their job function. 

---