June 2, 2004—Demanding work hours under tight budgets for health and safety staff often lead to burnout, a high and costly turnover rate, and less productive oversight, according to a new benchmarking report from Best Practices.
Based on interviews of 14 major corporations with health and safety personnel that serve complex plant and field operations, the report asserts that the solution is to make safety an integral part of everyone’s tasks within an organization. This includes worker selection, job definition, process description, and co-worker oversight, with the goal of each individual taking responsibility for his or her own safety. This enables the H&S professional to serve as a resource expert, to reduce costs, and to maintain performance.
The report covers common strategies of the benchmarked companies, including: broad geographic coverage by field safety staff; delegating authority and ownership of daily safety functions to line personnel; increased reliance on safety committees; and allowing safety professionals to focus on facilitating meetings, assessing line management’s safety skills and attitudes, investigating major incidents, conducting periodic in-depth audits, and communicating corporate policies and goals.
For more information on the report, “Driving Efficiency and Effectiveness in Health & Safety Organizations,” which provides H&S managers with specific examples, 180 performance metrics, and numerous recommendations, visit Best Practices.
-Based on a report from Safety Currents
