The Safety Department

This survey is designed to help us improve our Process Safety Management systems. Piease complete the sun/ey and return it to the Safety Department. 

The basic version of the NMMS framework described above shows its functioning at the level of the safety department in an organisation. The learning process thus takes place at the level of "end-users" (e.g. operators, etc.), their direct supervisors and the local safety staff. Feedback loops which make this learning process possible are not. only the "evaluation" loop back to module 1, but also several smaller loops within the framework, e.g. when the purpose is modelling, module 6 may very well influence module 4, which in turn may change the ways in which the "input" modules 1,2 and 3 operate. 

We review all theWorker s Compensation Claims sent in to the Safety Department by our locations and analyze those claims which... 

Because safety depends on all personnel involved in a particular operation, the individual must not be neglected in planning a safety program. An effective procedure utilizes one or more safety groups or committees to study new problem areas, review existent procedures, and conduct periodic surveys of all laboratories. Such groups should report directly to the head of the safety department or to the research director. The most successful groups have the full cooperation of top management this cooperation emphasizes the importance of safety. 

When you are replacing a SME, this competency is frequently already included in the job description, making the gap analysis fairly straightforward. In many instances, this SME role may not have a reporting relationship to the safety department although the role is critical to process safety. In these instances, the change should be authorized by the immediate supervisor with input... 

Authority, Norway, five years later, some of the main protagonists expressed their views on Safety Forum. The director of the Safety Department of the NPD and chairman of Safety Forum, Magne Ognedal, expressed his views on the process from controversy towards a more collaborative climate between the parties One of the most important tasks of the Safety Forum was to work for a climate and a culture of mutual respect. We struggled a little bit in the beginning, but this has increasingly improved (Ognedal 2005). 

Incentives for doing a good job Training given by the safety department A working safety committee Job hazard analysis Positive reinforcement Understanding of safety responsibility Positive attitude Proper training... 

Hiring and appointing employees is a function in which management ensures that someone is both mentally and physically capable of safely carrying out the work for a position. Hiring the correct person for the task is a prime consideration for the prevention of accidents. The success of coordinating the safety system will indirectly depend on the support it receives from the safety department, and this depends on the quality of safety and health staff initially appointed. 

The function of all safety departments and personnel should be to guide, educate, train, and motivate all levels of management, workers, and unions in the techniques of accident and disease prevention, and to advise and coordinate the safety system (GETMAC). This should be a staff function and not a line function (see Figure 5.1). All employees have some safety responsibility, but management, senior and line, has ultimate safety authority, and therefore is ultimately accountable. The safety department cannot, and should not, be held accountable for the safety performance of an organization. This has been stated by a number of safety authors, yet safety departments traditionally drift back to managing the safety of others. 

This principle refers to the safety department and states The higher the level to which safety personnel report, the more management cooperation they are likely to obtain. 

The safety department will undoubtedly play a major role in the culture change program and the maintenance of the SMS, and therefore needs to be correctly staffed, structured, and focused. Correct qualifications and relevant experience of staff members are essential to the success of the endeavor. 

Well, anyway, he was an hourly worker so he didn t really get into trouble at all. I had to fill in an accident report and it had to be signed off by the safety department. I had to go to the hospital that day with a broken foot and everything else. 

When I came back from the hospital I was asked (I was supposed to take 2 weeks off) no questions. Two weeks off, which was what the doctor originally said. When I came back the safety guy said to me, Well, if you take time off it s a lost-time accident. We will lose our bonuses and the safety department will lose their bonuses. The bonuses were being paid out soon. It depends on how much you make. Mine was about 800. The supervisor s was probably about 2 grand [ 2,000]. We only got bonuses once every 2 years. This is when the price of the product was still high and everybody had done a real good job. Our division was one of the prize properties at the time. 

Safety systems that originate and are maintained in the safety department will have little effect on the organization. It is estimated that about 15% of a company s problems can be controlled by employees, but 85% can be controlled by management. This means that most safety problems are management problems. Management will... 

Many managers will immediately point to the safety department and say that it s their job to manage safety and safety change. It needs to be spelled out very clearly at the beginning of the change intervention that safety culture change must start and be driven at the senior management level or else it will fail. The safety department will play its part, as discussed in Chapter 14. 

Some of the biggest initial challenges of the process will be resistance and reluctance from managers to take on this extra burden of safety. Safety paradigms taught them to believe that safety was the safety department s job. Now they have to carry the burden. Once authorities and accountabilities for safety and health have been written and incorporated into managers job descriptions, the amount of resistance will wane. 

The safety department will be an invited member and will provide input, advice, and secretarial services to the SLT. 

Traditionally the function of safety was given to the safety department, and it was told to manage the safety. Safety does not belong in the safety department, but with line management. 

Perhaps one of safety s biggest stumbling blocks is the responsibility for safety has been pushed down to the safety department. As soon as there is a safety issue, it becomes the responsibility of the safety department. Safety belongs with the line management, from the lowest level of management to the chief executive officer. Safety is their function. The safety department should only coordinate the safety activities and not accept responsibility for the entire safety function. (McKinnon, 2007, p. 135)... 

Again, safety is not the responsibility of the safety department. The safety department seldom has the authority to carry the burden of safety responsibility. It can only be responsible for coordinating the activities that constitute the ongoing safety program. 

They are also important for liaison between various employees and also between the employees and different levels of management. Health and safety representatives are basically part-time safety advisors. They are an extension of the safety department s capabilities and help them in their job of coordinating the safety system. 

As stated by Friend (2012), the safety practitioner and his or her department will play a major role in changing the safety culture. However, change must also take place within the safety department They should also be aligned with up-to-date loss causation theories and let go of the paradigm that the majority of accidents are caused by the behavior of the workers. 

The task for the safety department is to support the change process, according to the article Cultivating a Safe Attitude, Gaining Management Commitment ... 

Safety cannot be policed. Security can, and that is why security staff are called security officers or the police are called police officers, traffic officers, etc. Safety does not belong in that category any more, so a positive step toward improving the safety culture would be to remove the title officer from the safety staff. The safety department is not a police or security force. They should identify deviations from standards and hazards and notify the supervisor. It is the job of the supervisor, not the safety department, to give direct instructions to anployees. 

The safety department plays a key role in safety culture shift, and its role could determine the success or failure of the venture. Conversely, a safety department that is not used correctly could be a stumbling block in the culture change process. 

The organization s annual report should also feature a section on safety, health, and environmental (SHE) matters. The report should be prepared by the safety department but presented by the CEO. The report can include a safety progress report, damage, near-miss incident and injury statistics, numbers of employees trained in SHE techniques, and other relevant information. 

Major changes in the safety department could also upset the safety culture or halt the change process entirely if the department is influential enough. Bearing in mind... 

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