ROLE OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY

OFFICER
SAFETY OFFICER
A construction safety officer ensures that construction workers are following
established policies and safety regulations. A construction safety officer may
take on additional roles and responsibilities, but their primary job is helping
to create safer construction sites.

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
The safety officer's main responsibility is to diminish or eliminate work-
related accidents. However, if an accident occurs, the safety officer will
conduct a safety investigation to determine root causes, what procedures
may have gone wrong, and to gather the evidence necessary to identify the
cause of the accident. Based on the investigation results, the safety officer
will document findings and recommendations that should be followed to
prevent the accident from happening again.

POLICY AND REGULATION MAINTENANCE

Safety officers develop, implement and enforce policies that reduce the risk
of accidents. The safety officer determines what policies are needed and
how to enforce them. The safety officer is responsible for keeping policies
up to date, meeting the latest standards and establishing new ones from
time to time as more and newer risks are discovered. Facts demonstrate
that a safety officer working for your company or on a project can reduce by
37% the worker's compensation EMR and bring almost 79% reduction in
employee turnover rate.

SITE SAFETY INSPECTION

The safety officer is in charge of inspecting site conditions to determine if
hazards are present and to establish procedures and policies to overcome
those hazardous situations. The safety officer looks for broken equipment,
defective tools, and other potential hazards, focusing on worker safety. The
safety officer determines what type of personal protective equipment (PPE)
is needed and makes sure that workers know how to operate and use tools
and equipment

RECORD KEEPING
The safety officer is also responsible for reviewing and meeting all state and
federal safety standard requirements for record-keeping. The safety officer
also submits the OSHA form 300, which is a summary of all injuries that
resulted in lost work time, restricted duties or job transfers. They also
ensure that the poster entitled "Job Safety and Health: It's the Law" and
other documents are displayed in readily visible and accessible location in
the workplace, as required by OSHA.

I. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURING OF SAFETY

CENTRALIZED
• Active management and control of a company safety program may be
vested in the chief executive, the general manager, or an experienced
and qualified foreman who has both authority and status.
• There are several advantages to safety inherent in small-scale
operations such as closer contact with the working force, more general
acquaintance with the problems of the whole plant , and frequently,
less labor turnover.
• The SAFETY MANAGER does have special problems with engineering
and medical services. He or she is not likely to be in a position to hire
full-time safety professionals or a full-time physician and/or nurse.

DECENTRALIZED
• Organizations with scattered operations requiring relatively few
employees, such as scattered construction sites, face special problems
of organization. Their operations may be seasonal or intermittent, and
there may not be a sufficiently stable working force to operate
committees effectively, which may be quite variable.
STAFF VERSUS LINE POSITIONS
• The safety program is usually assigned to persons holding line positions
in a small plant, and staff positions in a large plant. If a line official in a
small plant has a safety function for portions of the plant over which
he or she has no line authority, however, the safety assignment is
considered to be a staff function. In a large plan the safety director and
organization should have staff status and authority.
• The exact determination of the set-up of eh safety staff must be
decided by each firm in terms of its own operational problems ,
policies, and hazards.

AUTHORITY VERSUS RESPONSIBILITY

• Sometimes the safety professional is given authority that is usually
limited to line officials. This authority is necessary to meet the
responsibilities associated with the safety professional’s position.
Without the authority to act, the safety professional might not be able
to fulfill his or her responsibilities.

MATRIX VERSUS TRADITIONAL STRUCTURE

• Matrix organization (also called project management and program
management) is most often used when a new product must be
developed.
• The primary advantage of a matrix organization, which is ordinarily a
temporary supplement to a traditional structure, is that an objective
can be achieved without expending the money and time required to
develop a totally new organization.

II. TEAM UP FOR SAFETY

INFLUENCING PEOPLE
• It is in the mutual best interests of companies and their employees to
have supervisors who are skilled in the creation of organizational
climates that are conductive to employee self-motivation. This level of
supervisory skill is achieved through a judicious blend of training and
 experience. People are strongly influenced by the attitudes and actions
of their supervisors.
• One of the responsibilities of leadership is the ENFORCEMENT OF
DISCIPLINE. No matter how well qualified supervisors may otherwise
be, their fitness to lead is severely limited by their ability and
willingness to impose necessary discipline n a timely basis.

SUPERVISON
• Organizations that expect their supervisors to offer a high quality of
leadership to their employees must provide appropriate training and
experiential opportunities to current supervisors and supervisory
trainees.
• For the purpose of administrating a safety program and ensuring its
continuity, top management will usually place the administration of
the program in the hands of a safety professional, the personnel
manager or a line supervisor.

The responsibilities of the first-line supervisor are many. Direction of the

work force includes the following supervisory functions:
1. Setting goals
2. Improving present work methods.
3. Delegating work
4. Allocating manpower
5. Meeting deadlines
6. Controlling expenditures
7. Following progress of work
8. Evaluating employee performance
9. Forecasting manpower requirements
10. Supervising on-the-job-training
11. Reviewing employee performance
12. Handling employee complaints
13. Enforcing rules
14. Conducting meetings
15. Increasing safety awareness
 III.SAFETY OFFICER/PROFESSIONAL

POSITION CONCEPT
• The site safety engineer is responsible to the site manager, the
employee relations’ manager, or the personnel manager for:

1. Developing and executing an effective program of safety engineering

and industrial hygiene within the plant, with the appropriate
procedures.
2. Developing and directing safety engineering and safety inspection
personnel associated with the plant.
3. Developing and directing safety training programs and procedures
within the plant.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Within the limits of authorized objectives, policies and procedures, the plant
safety engineer is responsible for and has the authority for:

 Discharging the company’s statement of policy as outlined in its

organizational manual.
 Implementing and administrating the company’s statement of policy
for a safe plant. The encompasses safety policies and practices,
safety standards, and industrial hygiene.
 Where possible, propagating and promulgating safety and industrial
hygiene instructions, procedures, and standards, and following
up on these when necessary so that employees’ and visitors will
not injure themselves or others.
 Personally maintaining a constant audit of all existing, planned, and
proposed installations, processes, and procedures for unsafe
conditions or acts before they result in injury or damage.
 Testing new safety devices on the job.

 Developing and presenting training programs for all supervisors so that

they will have the knowledge and tools to prevent accidents.
  Conducting monthly meetings of the executive safety committee and
attending monthly departmental supervisory safe meetings for the
purpose of eliminating unsafe acts or conditions by calling them to the
attention of the person or persons responsible.
 Maintaining statistical records and reporting these to management.
Such report would cover
o Accidents and near- accidents;
o Frequency and severity of major and minor injuries
o Costs of accidents
 Compiling, editing, publishing, and distributing monthly or bi-weekly
safety publications to all employees in an effort to prevent injuries
on and off the job.
 Obtaining and presenting audiovisual aids to all employees to
prevent injuries on and off the job.
 Operating and maintaining a dispensary for safety shoes, to
reduce costly foot injuries and to improve efficiency.

RELATIONSHIPS INSIDE THE COMPANY

The safety engineer will establish and maintain the following relationships
within the company:

 WITHIN THE COMPANY

The safety engineer is accountable to this executive for the proper
interpretation and fulfillment of the duties and responsibilities of this
position and related authority.

 WITH DEPARTMENT HEADS AND SUPERVISORS

The safety engineer is responsible for providing advice and guidance
about safety and industrial hygiene appropriate to their processes,
installations, and procedures of the plant.

 WITH EMPLOYEES
The safety engineer is responsible for providing advice and guidance
about any employee’s specific job or work area in the interest.
 WITH UNIONS
The safety engineer is responsible for fulfilling his contractual obligations
regarding matters of safety and health.

 OUTSIDE THE COMPANY

The safety engineer must establish appropriate relationships with
professional organizations.

ACCOUNTABILITY
• The safety engineer is accountable in the plant manager for his or her
actions and their consequences. Performances will be judged on the
following criteria's:
• Reduction of the frequency and severity of accidents. The same criteria
for measurement must be consistently used throughout the company.
• Reduction of costs stemming from accidents. “Weightings” must be
used to correct for dissimilarities between operations in different areas
of the company.
• The efficiency and smoothness of a department’s operations within
operations of the plant as a whole.

NEED FOR SAFETY PROFESSIONALS

• It should be noted that the number of people employed in a plant
should not be the only factor determining whether the safety program
should be in the hands of full-time safety professional. The nature of
the operation should indicates what the need should be.

Some of the most common incidents avoided in the

workplace by safety officers are related to:
• Usage of faulty equipment and electrical cord extensions
• Reduction of fatality during trenching and excavating
• Reduction of accidents and increase protection of workers when using
formwork
 • Safety procedures enhance when working on roofs and elevated
surfaces

IV. RULE 1047 DUTIES OF THE SAFETY MAN

1. Serves as secretary to the health and safety committee.
2. Acts in an advisory capacity on all matters pertaining to health and
safety for the guidance of the employer and the workers.
3. Conducts investigation.
4. Coordinates health and safety training programs for the employees
and employer.
5. Conducts health and safety inspection
6. Maintains or helps in the maintenance if an efficient accident records.
7. Provides assistance to government agencies in the conduct of safety
and health inspection, accident investigation.
8. For purposes of effectiveness in a workplace where full-time safety
man is required, he shall report directly to the employer.

The principal function of the safety man is to act as the

employers’ principal assistant and consultant in the
application of programs to remove the hazards from the
workplace and to correct unsafe work practices.

Construction Safety Officer Training

A construction safety officer needs to be proactive, staying a step ahead of
the group on safety and environmental hazards. In doing so, the officer
trains all employees and identifies special requirements for employees. The
safety officer provides training to employees on safety topics required by
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). These include
fire prevention plans, machine guarding and hazardous materials handling.

The trend is to employ full-time safety professionals for any

or all of the following reasons:
1. Compliance to rule of the OSHS.
 2. The high degree of union involvement now developing in safety and
environmental health.
3. Challenges in machine design and plant layout; product safety and the
great need for fire prevention and security; the way people think about
the profit motives of a company.

SUMARY OF RESPONSIBILITES OF SAFETY OFFICER

1. Inspects the site to ensure it is a hazard-free environment
2. Conducts toolbox meetings
3. Is part of the project safety council and leads all efforts to enhance
safety
4. The safety officer reviews and approves all subcontractors safety plans
verifies that injury logs and reports are completed and submitted to
related government agencies.
5. Verifies that all tools and equipment are adequate and safe for use
6. Promotes safe practices at the job site.
7. Enforces safety guidelines.
8. Trains and carries out drills and exercises on how to manage
emergency situations.
9. Conducts investigations of all accidents and near-misses
10. Reports to concerned authorities as requested or mandated by
regulations.
11. Conducts job hazard analyses.
12. Establishes safety standards and policies as needed.
13. Performs emergency response drills Watches out for the safety of
all workers and works to protect them from entering hazardous
situations.
14. Responds to employees’ safety concerns.
15. Coordinates registration and removal of hazardous waste.
16. Serves as the link between state and local agencies and
contractors.