So, while larger organisations can afford one or more Health, Safety and Environment advisor, SME are left to delegate these responsibilities to one or more department; usually, the Human Resources (HR) department. The question is then, how can SME ensure good safety management?
History
Traditionally, the makeup of organisations has included departments like Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Operations, etc. And Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) is a new and emerging facet of business that has seen significant growth and evolution in its relatively short lifespan in organisational structure. 30 years ago, it was very rare to see an organization with a safety presence or any dedicated staff.
And while larger companies can afford WHS professionals, SME usually delegate human resources professionals with direct responsibility for safety management. A human resources manager handles hiring, firing, payroll and benefits. While a safety professional oversees lockout/tagout, fall protection, machine guarding and personal protective equipment. These are very different functions, and sometimes they are even split across different work staff and department. This can create a disjointed safety management system and may increases SME liability when incidents happen.
Regardless of how safety and HR are structured within an organisation, stakeholders stress the importance of the units communicating and cooperating with one another. This includes larger organisations who have safety professionals and a separate human resource department. Both HR and safety are a support function for a larger operation and have similar mission objectives: ensure effective work processes while complying with the law. Although an employer’s safety and HR departments don’t necessarily need to work together to achieve their goals, failure to do so may come at a cost. Essentially, failure to work together can lead to conflicting messages, and may increases in risk, operating costs and incidents.
At NWHS Consulting, we promote the view that WHS is a specialised function; whether it is situated on its own or within human resources, that has many touch points with HR. In order to best manage the function, HR professionals need to work closely with safety professionals to ensure an organisational commitment to safety, and to promote safe working practices and procedures. This may be in the form of consultation, collaboration and training, because HR are not safety subject matter experts.
Differences between HR and WHS Advisors
The first important fact to understand is that there is a difference between the fields of safety and human resources management. Although job responsibilities often overlap, safety and human resources professionals have very different training, and this affects their management of the safety function; and their understanding about organisational safety needs. We can show this with broad generalisations that can help clarify their differences.
Human resources professionals study subjects like recruiting, compensation and benefits, training and development, and management. While those with qualifications in safety management take courses on introductory safety, safety program management, safety engineering, safety and health legislation, systems safety and workers’ compensation.
While the two professions may overlap, safety is a specialised and technically oriented discipline. This specialised training and background provides safety graduates with a technical background that HR professionals may lack, as well as specific management techniques to keep workers safe, while lowering workers’ compensation costs and keeping the firm in compliance with WHS. Again, these are very broad generalisations, but there is a real difference between safety and human resources professionals.
Getting WHS Help
Help for SME needing guidance about safety can be broken down into two categories:
- Those that cost, and
- Those that are free.
And there are two major sources in the category of resources that will not cost:
- Your insurance company, and
- Safe Work Australia.
Your insurance company is a good source for assistance with safety. Your insurer has a vested interest in keeping your losses low. The first step in having low losses is having an effective safety program. Your insurer has a local staff of safety professionals to service accounts such as yours. Also, the insurer probably has a staff at its home or regional office that includes specialists in areas such as industrial hygiene and fire protection.
Insurance loss control services are not a substitute for an internal safety program, only a supplement. Also, the amount and quality of services the insurer is willing to provide are based upon the quality of your insurer and the size of your yearly premium.
Another possible source of safety help rests with Safe Work Australia. Their website contains a wealth of information, including latest code of practices, legislation and guidance notes.
Hiring a Consultant
If you decide outside resources are needed and that the insurer-provided services are not enough, or you don’t have time to read the volumes of information from Safe Work Australia then another option is to hire an outside consultant. There are plenty of consultants available in most areas; the key is taking the time to speak with them in person. You wouldn’t hire a new employee without an interview, the same applies to hiring a consultant.
Safety consultation services are not cheap. So, take your time because this may become a long-term relationship. Once a consultant understands your organisation and its functions, then cost over time can be saved on future safety needs.
Setting up a safety program is a challenge, even for a trained individual. Be aware that there is a difference between professional education in safety and in human resources. Many human resources professionals have been cross trained in safety on the job and have emerged as good safety professionals. However, for many SME, reliance on HR and frontline management to be safety specialist is road thwart with danger which is only seen after a major workplace incident. WHS is a specialised field, and SME need to make it a priority.