For companies in some industries, health, safety, and the environment (HSE) are such prominent concerns that they require specialized workers to oversee these areas. After all, it’s not always about making a profit. Companies also have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of employees, which is why an HSE site specialist is sometimes needed.
Of course, it’s important that a safety officer or HSE site specialist understands his or her duties. When it comes to health and safety in the workplace, gray areas can be where businesses get into trouble. To help clear things up, here are some of the most important job responsibilities that an HSE site specialist should have at your company.
Set and Enforce Safety Policies
Admittedly, this area is a little tricky because every part of a business needs to be involved in creating safety policies and protocols. However, an HSE site specialist or safety officer should be the one leading the conversation and overseeing the process. A safety specialist will understand how to perform tasks safely and in a manner that is compliant with all regulations. Knowing that OSHA standards are the bottom line, the safety specialist can then listen to input from employees from all departments so that the business can be as productive as possible without sacrificing health and safety protocols.
Create and Coordinator Training Programs
An HSE manager will always be front and center when it comes to safety training. Again, the safety officer will have to work with managers and supervisors from all parts of the company to determine the training needs. However, it’s ultimately up to the HSE site specialist to develop a program that covers all of the bases and gives employees all of the training they need. From there, it’s all about implementing the training program properly and tracking progress so that every worker is up to date on the training they need.
Investigate Injuries and Accidents
The best thing a company can do to help limit accidents is to investigate every workplace accident or near-miss. This duty will undoubtedly fall under the jurisdiction of the HSE site specialist. There is always something that can be learned from an accident, even minor ones. It’s up to the safety officer to take a thorough look at anything that has gone wrong. This is the best way to find out what went wrong or what almost went wrong and how a similar situation can be avoided in the future. In many ways, this is the most important job responsibility of an HSE site specialist. No company will ever be perfect, but if a company does learn from its mistakes, it’s just asking for trouble.
Evaluate and Improve Safety Protocols
As mentioned, perfection when it comes to health and safety in the workplace is often unattainable. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t always be looking for ways to improve. Part of the job duties of a safety specialist will be constantly evaluating the policies and protocols in place. Even if they are minor adjustments, there are always ways to do things better. After all, when it comes to workplace safety, it’s sometimes the little things that can make a big difference.
Choose the Right Safety Monitoring Software
The best way to make an HSE site specialist as effective as possible is to use a company-wide safety management system. Obviously, this worker should play a role in choosing a system that works. For example, safety management software offered by EHS Insight make it easier to manage every aspect of safety, from training to compliance to identifying hazards in the workplace. It’s a system that’s proven to be effective and time-saving.
If you’re looking for a system that can help your safety officer or HSE specialist, let us know and we can have our software up and running in no time.
