Contractor Non-construction Worksite Health and Safety Files, By Leighton Bennett

So, You Want To Be A Safety Officer? By Johan van der Merwe

Reality is that very few who start in this career actually stick around, unless they have the right attitude.
Contractor Non-construction Worksite Health and Safety Files, By Leighton Bennett
Photo Credit: Plan Insurance

So you want to be a safety officer/manager? Call it what you want.

Reality is that very few who start in this career actually stick around, unless they have the right attitude. Let me give you my take on this. It’s up to you to agree or disagree.

Safety is something that everyone thinks they are an expert at and can do the job better than the person who is assigned to do the job.

Really? Back to my statement “So you want to be a safety officer…”

What happens when you leave school?  You need to pursue a career that will help you earn money.

Most of us have aspirations to attend university, but the reality is that we are not all Einsteins or have the potential to become an engineer, doctor, etc. Your Daddy then comes up with the solution: “become a safety officer”.

We have this glamorous job at my workplace, where “the person just walks around and looks busy”.

All that is needed is a two-week course and you’re set to change the world. Are you really ready?

Do you know that the health and safety practitioner’s job influences and impacts on and is part of everybody’s actual job?

Think about that!

Gone are the days when a job is given to someone who doesn’t know what to do with it, or they look like the person who has too much unproductive time available.

IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SAFETY OFFICER / MANAGER’S ROLE

Today the safety officer/manager is or should be one of the most important people in the organisation, especially now with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in some organisations. Just look at how many employees in the health and safety field have lost their jobs during this Covid-19 pandemic period.

Safety has become as critical to companies, as ISO certifications which are often required by client businesses for their vendor registrations.

Read Also: HSE As A Key Business Value Driver, By Olawale Ogunyebi

However, often safety is “management’s grudge buy requirement” and is filled by someone hidden somewhere who is seconded to a low-level position, and who is taken out when visitors come, or when management need to find a method to relieve their frustrations, while trying to dodge their legal responsibilities.

Hence my statement that everyone thinks they can do your job better then you, which may take the focus off their short comings.

The health and safety profession is not a career that facilitates a get rich quick scheme, it’s a calling, a passion to make a difference to lives in the workplace and at home.

The “old school” safety practitioner will tell you it’s hard work, long hours and every time the phone rings in the middle of the night and someone is injured you feel that emotional pain.

TOSS-UP BETWEEN PRODUCTIVITY AND SAFETY

You will never please everyone and you will take a lot of criticism especially if you work for a company with the lame slogan “SAFETY IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY”.

We all know that is a lie, production is always first in any company.

In my twenty-seven odd years as a health and safety practitioner I have never heard a company ever say “SAFETY IS OUR THIRD PRIORITY”, which in reality it usually is.

However, priorities do change as the need arises. After a serious or fatal incident safety suddenly becomes the main focus for a short while. Once things settle down, safety disappears into hiding again.

HEALTH AND SAFETY DOESN’T END ON THE JOB

Everybody is the health and safety officer of their own lives, think about it!! When you wake up, you need to start assessing the risks around you:

• Are the kids safely away from the kitchen cooking risks?

• Is the house locked and the alarm on before I leave home?

• Have I got my Covid-19 mask and am I wearing it correctly?

• While travelling to work: Is my vehicle safe? Is the taxi that I travel in sanitised and ventilated, etc?

• Are the vehicle and the taxi tyres okay?

• Are any travel route intersections potential high-jacking hot spots?

• Was I Covid-19 screened when I arrived at work and am I keeping social distancing?

CONCLUSION

Health and safety can be a very exciting career for the person with the right mind-set and attitude. It is challenging and demanding but there is no glory. Success is not determined by statistics or the safety board.

Workplace health and safety success is when the teamwork that you were/are part of creating adopts a safety culture that puts preserving lives as an important priority matter.

After reading this and you feel you could be part of this safety culture and you want to do it for the RIGHT reasons. Go for it!

This article originally appeared in the African OS&H Magazine.

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Smart Olawale

Smart Olawale is a Journalist (writing for HSENations), Marketing & Communication Enthusiast, Digital Marketer, Speaker and Educationist.
He holds a B.Sc Degree in Mass Communication from the prestigious Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Need Ideas? He's only a call away.

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