Who Should Handle Employee Safety and Training in Different Industries?

Dear Friends,

Who is responsible for the safety of employees and safety training? Is it the HR manager, the Admin Manager, or someone else? Please be specific if this responsibility varies from industry to industry.

Regards,
Abdul

The Chief Executive of the organization has the final accountability for the safety of employees. Training is also a tool for making them aware of safety aspects, but he delegates it to the Occupier of the factory who is answerable to the Chief Executive. The Safety Department has safety officers as per the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948. Accidents are notified as per statutory requirements to the Factories Department by the Occupier.

Apart from this, the ownership of safety lies with each employee (considering his psychological aspects) and the Safety Department. In the case of contractual employees, safety is also the responsibility of the contractor. Therefore, it is a collective effort, but the primary responsibility lies with the individual himself as his unsafe acts are likely to cause accidents leading to injuries (first aid, non-reportable accidents, lost-time injuries, temporary/permanent disability, or even fatal accidents). It has been established that almost 80% of accidents are due to unsafe acts, with only 25% due to unaccountable causes (Act of God), the rest being unsafe conditions.

The psychological factor involves the behavioral aspects dealing with ego, adventurism, taking shortcuts, not following safe procedures, not following the superior's instructions, and trying to achieve targets at any cost. Most organizations have a well-laid Safety Policy.

Hi Martensite,

Are you a metallurgist by any chance? Your name prompts me to ask you this question.

Vishwas H. Watwe

Hi Vishwaswatwe,

You are correct. I am with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, Visakhapatnam, working in the Safety Engineering Department.

Dear Abdul,

I think it's the joint responsibility of all departments' HOD to make their team members aware of safety. The safety officer or safety department of the company is accountable for it.

Dear Abdul,

The overall responsibility for employee health and safety belongs to the owner or his nominated official, such as the CEO, MD, or Executive Director vice versa. However, if the company/organization has a separate Employee Safety Management Department, then it is the responsibility of the Chief Safety Officer. In cases where there is no such separate section, the Manager Administration is supposed to look after employee safety issues.

Thanks