The Health and Safety Professional

The individual who has been assigned the ultimate responsibility for safety is the safety and health professional. This may be an individual with academic training in safety and health, or an individual who has both experience and an understanding of the specific hazards that exist in the company s workplace(s). This individual may be called the safely director, coordinator, or person. No matter the title, his or her responsibilities are varied and wide-ranging. Some possible performance expectations may be as follows  

Establishing programs for detecting, correcting, or controlling hazardous conditions, toxic environments and health hazards. 

Ensuring that proper safeguards and personal protective equipment are available, properly maintained, and properly used. 

Establishing safety procedrues for employees, plant design, jiant layout, vendors, outside contractors, and visitors. 

Establishing safety procedures for purchasing and installation of new equipment and for pruehasing and safely stoiaging of hazardous materials. 

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In order to achieve the optimal level of workplace safety and health, it is essential that all employees at all levels become actively involved and possess a vested interest in the safety and health program. The safety and health professional, with the support of management, should take a leadership role in designing, implanenting, and orchestrating the empowerment of all employees within the safety and health function. Achievement of the buy-in and active participation of aU employees will take substantial time and requires a constant and sustained effort at all levels of the organization. 

Just as your employees need the right hammer or wrench to do their jobs successfully from an operational prospective, it is essential that the safety and health professional properly equip your employees with the essential tools and knowledge in safety and health function. Employees should be equipped with not only the tools but also the reason why the particular tool is to be utilized in a particular job or circumstance as well as the underlying safeguards the particular tool provides to the individual employee. For safety and health professionals, it is relatively simple to provide the safeguard, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), and inform the employee he or she is required to wear the PPE. However, if the employee possesses a voice in the PPE selection process, fully understands the reason for the PPE as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the PPE, there is a substantial likelihood that the employee will wear and appreciate the PPE in the workplace. 

Although safety and health professionals are often overwhelmed with the daily workload, it is important to show your respect for your employees when they come to your office to ask a question or wish to talk with you. When an employee has utilized his or her time to make the effort to come to your office to talk to you, there is a very important reason for this visit. The safety and health professional should stop what he or she is doing and provide his or her full and complete attention to the employee. This simple act shows the safety and health professional s respect for the employee and that the employee s comments and ideas are important. 

After compliance with the regulatory requirements is achieved and maintained, it is important that the focus be placed upon the behaviors of the individuals within the workforce. Employees working the same job for 40 hours a week, every week, acquire habits within the performance of their job function. The employee may not even realize that the behavior exhibited placed him or her or others within the workplace at risk. Although safety and health professionals often perform job observations, job hazard analysis, and other periodic activities, the safety and health professional cannot be everywhere in the workplace. Employees should be aware of not only the risks and safeguards of their job function but also actively involved in assisting fellow employees in improving their safety and health performance. 

Conversely, let us examine other occupations that are considered professions within our society— namely, the legal profession and medical profession—and compare these occupations with those of the safety and health professional. The medical and legal professions require specific educational requirements and curriculum. The safety and health profession possesses no specific educational requirements ... 

Safety and health impacts everyone, and everyone looks to the safety and health professional to provide his or her expertise and insight with virtually every activity. Safety and health professionals, in addition to all of their daily activities, must be proactive in identifying and addressing risks in the woikplace and beyond as well as developing countermeasnres throngh which to minimize or eliminate the identified risk. Identify the risk and eliminate the risk so that nothing happens. Safety and health professionals prefer that nothing happens. 

In many companies and organizations, the safety and health function reports directly to the human resource department, while in other organizations the safety and health function reports to other functions while working directly with the human resource function. Given the fact that both functions work directly with the issues and personnel within the labor force, it is relatively common for the safety and health professional to work closely with the human resource function. Additionally, given the various federal, state, and local laws that are intertwined with the human resource function and the safety and health function, it is important that safety and health professionals possess, at a minimum, an awareness of these laws in order to be able to recognize potential violations or conflicts when addressing anployee situations within the safety and health function. 

Disability-related policies Given the responsibilities of the safety and health function, it is imperative that the safety and health professional possess, at a minimum, an awareness of the company s requirements regarding disability, accommodation, short-term disability, and long-term disability policies. 

Collective bargaining agreement For unionized operations, the safety and health professional should have a working knowledge of the various provisions and requirements applicable to the safety and health function within the collective bargaining agreement. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related laws and executive orders The safety and health professional should possess a working knowledge of the prohibition against discrimination based upon race, sex, color, creed or religion, and national origin. 

Individual state workers compensation act Whether the safety and health professional possesses a direct or indirect responsibility for workers compensation claims, it is imperative that an expert-level knowledge of the applicable workers compensation laws and regulations for each state in which employees are working be acquired and maintained. Additionally, safety and health professionals should possess a thorough knowledge of all aspects of the workers compensation administration and management. 

Although this concept is a bit esoteric and is difficult to quantify, safety and health professionals can see the distinction between happy and unhappy employees by simply watching the smiles on the faces of their employees. If your anployee s basic needs, inclnding safety and health, are met and a fair compensation level is provided, the safety and health professional will have an impact on the happiness levels of his or her employees through the creation of a safe, healthful, environmentally sound, employee-empowered workplace that is free of conflict and strife. Arguably, a happy employee will work safer, and the creation of this happiness will pay dividends to employees as well as your company or organization. Happy = Safe. 

The initial step of the circular safety management technique is to select a methodology through which to keep track of the important dates and information regarding each compliance program. This is the safety and health professional s preference. Different methods include computer database, written calendar, action planning format, and other methods. The key is to be able to return to the program for review each year at the same time period to complete the review. 

The enthusiasm reflected by the safety and health professional in his or her daily activities can have an impact on the view and opinion of employees on the safety and health function. The simple acts of smiling and talking to anployees while conducting activities such as inspections within the operations has an impact. When an employee has a question, answer the question. If the safety and health professional does not know the answer, tell the anployee that you will find out the answer, and provide the answer to the employee in a timely manner. Remembering and calling employees by their first names when the safety and health professional talks with employees has an impact. The enthusiasm exhibited by the safety and health professional will be contagious. 

As safety and health professionals are aware, upper management not only wants to know about the safety and health problems and risks but also expects the safety and health professional to have thought through the issues and identified the various options and costs as to the methods through which to rectify the problem or eliminate the risk. Bosses generally do not simply want to hear about all of the problems and risks identified by the safety and health professional without identifying the various ways in which the problem or risk can be addressed—and always the costs. 

In addition to the motivating factors, safety and health professionals should be aware that the safety and health function, unlike other operational functions, can be influenced by other factors beyond the safety and health professional s control, which can impact the safety and health function and motivation of the workforce. For example, if the operation is anticipating a reduction in the workforce (RIF), this anticipation could result in higher injury rates, increased workers compensation costs, and related factors. The safety and health function also possesses the seasonal or operational ebb and flow of the specific operations. For example, the number of slip-and-fall injuries increases during the months of November through February when snow is on the ground. Safety and health professionals should be keyed in to the unique features of the specific operations and workforce. 

Not unlike a sports team, the safety and health professional is an equivalent to the coach, and he or she must strive to train, educate, and motivate the players or employees to achieve maximum safety and health performance. The safety and health professional is knowledgeable in the rules of the sport, ensures that the players are aware of the rules, educates the employees and practices the plays, initiates positive and negative reinforcement as necessary, maintains all of the equipment, practices to improve performance, and motivates the employees to achieve the common objective of a safe and healthful environment. 

In virtually every study, positive motivations achieve better results than negative reinforcement. Within the safety and health area, negative reinforcement is required for compliance purposes however, it is often up to the safety and health professional to design and develop positive reinforcement activities. These activities can be part of the overall empowerment and motivational activities, or separate and more... 

Above all, safety and health professionals want to instill a sense of pride and ownership in the safety and health function at all levels within the organizations. Motivated, empowered employees can change the thinking as well as the culture within the workplace and create a working environment that is truly beneficial to all and far beyond the boundaries initiated within the safety and health function. With the safety and health professional as the coach, the team will only progress as far as the coach trains, motivates, and prepares the players. Once equipped with the skills, abilities, and motivation by the coach, the players play the game and utilize these skills and abilities to achieve the established objectives. 

Safety and health professionals should also take pride in what we do. Safety and health professionals have an impact on every employee within the operations. The safety and health professional sets the tone and example for the every day safety and health efforts. The safety and health professional is the coach, the strategist, and the motivator. These important functions are never reflected in the job description, however are essential functions of the safety and health profession. Safety and health is as much an art as it is a science ... 

Safety and health professionals sometimes find themselves in compliance predicaments where there is no guidance within the Occupational Safety and Health standards or the situation may be in violation of a specific standard however, compliance cannot be achieved under the circumstances. The safety and health professional has identified the situation as a potential risk and the situation possesses a high probability of being cited under a specific standard or under the general duty clause. All potentially applicable standards have been analyzed, but there is just not a good fit. What is the safety and health professional supposed to do ... 

One possible solution that creative safety and health professionals may want to explore is the use of a variance action. In short, a variance allows the safety and health professional to analyze the unique situation and offer alternative methods through which to create a safe and healthfnl working environment outside of the specific standard. 

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. 

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