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Executive Summary / Abstract
As industrialization has progressed, it has become more diverse and complex leading to higher incidence of occupational accidents, injuries, and diseases. Progress made in design and technology has minimized accidents due to system fault. In the changed circumstances, safety professionals have taken a central role in hazard management endeavor of an organization. Safety professionals are those who know their job, have integrity and can communicate to above and below regarding safety. They continuously seek to improve their knowledge and ability. They strive to prevent or mitigate harm or damage to people, property, and the environment, which may derive from hazards. Their main functions are anticipating, identifying, and evaluating hazards and taking actions to avoid, eliminate, or control those hazards so that a state is attained for which the risks are judged to be acceptable.
Safety duties performed by safety professionals are varied from the assessment of potential hazards and its controls, accident prevention to regulatory compliance, training, and record keeping. They should possess basic knowledge of engineering, technology, science, business, communication, and psychology.
In the globalized business scenario, safety is no more treated as a discrete business function. It is considered as a business function that enhances business ethics and addresses employee concern and their satisfaction. The role of safety professionals has broadened beyond technical expertise to that of change agent. To foster zero-injury culture in the organization, they have to address the root-cause for hazard related exposure.
INTRODUCTION
Occupational accidents, injuries and diseases and major industrial disasters have caused immense human suffering and losses even though safety is considered as one of the most fundamental of human needs. As per ILO report, two million occupational fatalities occur each year across the world. The annual rate of occupational accidents is estimated at 270 million (Alli 3). Beside human losses, occupational accidents, diseases and injuries result in enormous economic losses. Recent surveys have shown that the rate of these incidents is slowly decreasing in most industrialized countries. The improvement in technology has made systems more reliable. With the incidence of accidents caused due to design or engineering faults minimized, human factor has emerged as the major cause. Thus, management systems have become critical for further excellence and safety professionals have taken a central role. Key factors related to safety professionalism have been discussed herein.
PROFESSIONALISM
Merriam-Webster defines professionalism as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person”. However, a person does not become a professional by acquiring a certification, holding a specific job title, or attending training. A professional attitude towards job is requisite for professionalism. Drawing an analogy, professionalism has been described as transient in nature, like an electric circuit in which a continuous electric power source ensures a fully charged circuit (Stephans 330). Here professional development is power source and professionalism is realized by a person by acquiring skill, from his or her behavior during the work, his or her job performance and dedication to excel. Professionalism is a set of inner qualities and values like sound judgment, mature responsibility, problem solving, expertise, and dedication to work. A true professional can be a carpenter, a mason, a machinist, a barber or an engineer (Stenson).
SAFETY AND SAFETY PROFESSIONAL
Safety has been defined in dictionaries as freedom from harm or danger. This dictionary definition of safety is of little practical value as it is impossible to eliminate all potential danger or hazard. Nothing is hundred percent safe under all conditions. A condition is stated as safe if the risk associated is acceptable. Clause 4.2 of ISO/IEC Guide 51: 2014 describes safe as a state of being protected from recognizable hazards that are likely to cause harm. Some level of risk is associated with products and systems.
In the early 1970s, an average 38 workers died every day in the United States and 10 percent workforce experienced work-related injuries and accidents. Establishment of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971 helped in creating and enforcing safety standards in a workplace (Britton). Idea of occupational safety as an important corporate policy started to gain momentum and practice of safety emerged as a separate profession.
Scope and Functions of Safety Professionals: The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) confers certification to safety professionals. As per BCSP, certified safety professionals should perform at least fifty percent of their total work related to safety. The safety duties include risk assessment, assessment of potential hazards and controls, waste management, investigation of accidents and incidents, loss prevention and preparation of emergency response plans. The duties could also include fire protection, regulatory compliance, record keeping, hazardous material management, training and conducting safety programs (“Certified Safety Professional; Program Overview”).
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has elaborated in detail the scope and function of safety professionals. Safety professionals should possess basic knowledge of engineering, mechanics, industrial processes, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, statistics, computer science, business, communication, and psychology (“Scope and Functions of the Professional Safety Position”). They should know laws, regulations, and standards related to safety, health, and environment. Persons from diverse background such as engineering, physical and social sciences, education, and management studies join as safety professionals. Many of them acquire degree or certification related safety.
The function of safety professionals relates protection of people, property, and environment. Major functions as described by ASSE are related to control of hazardous condition by anticipating, identifying and evaluating hazardous conditions and practices; developing hazard control designs, methods, procedures and programs; implementing, and administering hazard control programs and measuring, auditing and evaluating the effectiveness of hazard control programs (“Scope and Functions of the Professional Safety Position”).
Attributes of Safety Professionals: Safety professionals should have following attributes (Stephans 332):
1. They should possess the basic education and skills. Many safety personnel joins the safety stream from other disciplines. They learn through experience. However, they should acquire some proficiency and basic skill.
2. They must exhibit and maintain personal integrity.
3. Their main focus should be towards safety goals. Many times, attention is diverted due to the pressure of daily work.
4. They must seek continuing education. The technology is evolving and changing. To keep abreast of the latest development, continuous professional education is necessary.
Profile of a successful safety professional
A profile of a successful safety professional has been constructed based on the inputs from portals of the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and the American Society of Safety Engineers.
Safety professionals are knowledgeable in their field of work and provide guidance to other persons. They have developed skills to perform their functions effectively in the organization they are working. They have the capability to take effective steps in the prevention of accidents, incidents, or events that have potential to harm people, property, or the surroundings. They have the capability to evaluate the hazards and take appropriate actions to prevent the event from happening. Successful safety professionals have respect for themselves and their profession. They encourage persons to work in a team. They keep a positive attitude to work and toward management. They interact with designers and engineers on hazard control measures and make recommendations for improvement of the process or systems. They have the ability to do more than one thing at a time and under stress. They are performer but also know their limitations. They understand that during a crisis they have to get cooperation from others They are not timid and have the conviction to offer an opinion. They have confidence in their abilities and can act independently when required.
They acknowledge their faults without trying to shift the blame to others. They can communicate with top management and other officials. They have good grasp of business and good management skills. They manage and provide help to implement control. They can keep confidentiality of information and have the ability to carry out directives. They are eager learner and strong desire to learn new techniques (Solie).
They are safety professional and professionalism is demonstrated through their work.
CHANGING ROLE OF SAFETY PROFESSIONAL
In today’s transforming business landscape, the traditional role of safety professional is changing. Technology is advancing and becoming more automated and complicated. The organization is becoming leaner and flatter. Employees work under less supervision and undertake responsibilities. In the globalized scenario, competition has become more intense. Lean concepts are applied to eliminate waste, improve efficiency, and lower production costs (Manuele 471). Safety professionals have to stay relevant as the organization changes.
Safety has now being treated as a business function with tangible impact to the organization. It is no more considered as a discrete business function managed by only safety professionals. Safety is considered as a business function that enhances business ethics and addresses employee concern, thus providing satisfaction to employees. Safety professionals have skills and knowledge to help in the implementation of processes and technology with reliability and sustainability. Thus, they take up the role of advisor to the top management (Groover, & Spigener).
Integration of safety system within the organization has opened new opportunities to safety professionals. Moving beyond their existing role of technical experts, they take up the role of change agents. These developments pose a challenge to safety professionals. As a technical expert, safety professionals should keep their focus on safety, particularly on mitigation of hazard related exposures. As a change agent, they have to go beyond finding and removing exposures to a broader focus to identify how exposures are created in the organization. Identification of previously unknown exposures and mechanism to control them can create a zero-injury culture in the organization.
Safety professionals as change agents have to understand the cultural and climatic factors that are prevalent in the organization. A serious accident changes the climate of the organization whereas culture is not likely to change significantly to prevent further accidents. An effective leadership can influence the culture of the organization. Safety professionals as change agents must understand the methods employed by the leaders in shaping the organizational culture and advise leaders on achieving sustainable improvement.
CONCLUSION
The future role of safety professionals is going to be more challenging and complex. Safety standards will be more stringent. In the globalized business conditions, competitions will grow fiercer and international standards will be applicable.
There will be a higher number of educated professionals joining safety profession. This will lead to healthier competitions among them leading to a higher standard of professionalism. Standing of safety professionals in the organization will improve as safety professionals assert their expertise and fulfill the safety role effectively.
Works cited
Alli, B.O. Fundamental Principles Of Occupational Health And Safety, 2nd ed. International Labour Office, Geneva. 2008. Web. 12 April 2016.
Britton, Chris. “Corporate Safety Planning: Past, Present and Future”. https://ehstoday.com. EHS Today, 31 May 2016. Web. 12 April 2016.
“Certified Safety Professional; Program Overview”. http://www.bcsp.org. Board of Certified Safety Professionals, W. Bradley Avenue Champaign, Illinois. n.d. Web. . 8 April 2016.
Groover, D.R. & J. Spigener. “The Emerging Role of the Safety Professional”. https://ohsonline.com. Occupational Health & Safety, Quorum Drive, Suite 425, Dallas, TX, 15 April 2008. Web. 11 April 2016
“ISO/IEC Guide 51: 2014”. Safety aspects - Guidelines for their inclusion in standards, Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2014. Web. 8 April 2016.
"Merriam-Webster." Merriam-Webster.com, 2011. Web. 8 April 2016.
Manuele, F.A. On the Practice of Safety. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 4th Ed, 2013. Print.
“Scope and Functions of the Professional Safety Position”. http://www.asse.org. American Society of Safety Engineers. Park Ridge, , IL, n.d. Web. . 8 April 2016.
Solie, Candice. “Professionalism and What It Means”. https://www.apcointl.org/. Public safety communications, 69 (8), 2003. Web. 8 April 2016.
Stenson, J.B. “Professionalism & Workplace Savvy”. ParetnLeadership.com, n.d. Web. 8 April 2016.
