Episodes
Thursday Apr 03, 2014
Safety as a Split Job-Title
Thursday Apr 03, 2014
Thursday Apr 03, 2014
Many organizations, especially smaller sites, are making safety part of someone’s job title. It may be HR/Safety, Plant Engineer/Safety, Environmental/Safety, Health/Safety or some other combination. I seldom see “safety” listed first on such combined titles. Is that intentional or do the words just sound better in that order? In the majority of cases, it is the safety responsibility that is the “add-on” and the person assigned is another kind of professional and a part-time advocate of safety.
Having even a part-time safety point person can be better than having none; but there is a definite downside to this arrangement as well. It can send the message that safety is not important enough to dedicate a professional to it. It can also suggest that safety is not all that complex and a little attention is all that is needed. Not everyone takes these kinds of inferences from such an arrangement, but it often happens.
The most common problem with such assignments is that safety is seriously subjugated to the other job because that is where the expertise and interest lies. Safety is more or less a hobby that gets whatever extra time is available. Communications from the safety person are less than expert and less than official.
If your organization has such dual functions, carefully define the division of responsibilities, provide professional development for the safety function, calendar the first year’s safety activities and follow-up to see that they are accomplished, and periodically ask the personnel at the site how the safety function is going and how it could be improved. Today’s economic reality calls on many individuals to wear multiple hats. Just be sure one hat, doesn’t wind up in the closet.
-Terry L. Mathis
Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.