Don't Blame The Supervisors: Develop Them As Safety Force Multipliers

Don’t Blame the Supervisors: Develop them as Safety Force Multipliers

Supervisors play a key role for companies to achieve safety and health excellence and profitable operations. Leading companies understand that the safety department or safety professionals are not responsible for, or in charge of, safety performance. Here, line supervisors are safety force multipliers where it matters the most; where the work is taking place.

Unfortunately, what has not improved in many companies over the years is that, when things go wrong and incidents happen, one of the first reactions is to blame the supervisors for the negative outcome, many sometimes holding them responsible for the mishap.

Leading organizations have enhanced their supervisors’ professional development programs and initiatives by including nationally accredited basic occupational safety and health certifications. The goal is to increased supervisors’ technical confidence level as well as peer recognition.  The supervisors’ certifications are based on knowledge and skills identified by safety professionals and validated by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. These include aspects related to safety program implementation, hazard identification and control, health and basic industrial hygiene, emergency preparedness and management, and leadership, communication and training.

This session will include a discussion of the competency frontline supervisors need to be effective safety leaders and safety force multipliers and how an accredited certification can support a company supervisors’ development program.