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Safety Greatness
By Carola Hicks
As governments become ever more vigilant and attentive to the cause of occupational health and safety, so must companies increase their investment in this cause. The terms ‘safety culture’ and ‘management commitment’ have been discussed endlessly but where does action finally replace lip service or the rubber hit the road?
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Safety greatness is an achievable goal when all parties (employers, managers, supervisors and workers) accept their respective responsibilities to the cause. In an article researched for this discussion, the term “felt leadership” was used. The definition given was as follows: “felt leadership is respect through action for the well-being of people.”
It would be easy for the reader to translate “leadership” into employer, manager, supervisor, boss, etc., but the truth is that every worker needs to take a leadership role and exercise his or her responsibility in maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. The only leadership role a manager should take is to make it clear to all that they are the leaders or masters of their own health and safety destiny.
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Enter the Internal Responsibility System or IRS. The Occupational Health and Safety Act governs health and safety in the workplace and sets out legal duties and responsibilities for employers, supervisors and workers to follow. The duties may not be complicated, but if they are not followed, injuries, illness or even the death of a worker can result. Put briefly, the IRS is a system in which everyone in the workplace has a role to play and a duty to actively ensure they and their co-workers are safe. Every worker who sees a health and safety hazard in the workplace has a duty to report the situation to management. Once any hazard has been identified, the employer and supervisor have a duty to look at the problem and eliminate any hazards that might injure workers. The legal duties and responsibilities of employers, supervisors and workers overlap and complement each other. In felt leadership, ethical and moral responsibilities will do the same.
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