Front-line managers communicate policies, are first to be blamed when things go wrong
Bob Deline’s answering machine tells it like it is.
“Sorry I can’t be with you here today, but I’m out and about saving lives here in the parks and can’t be here to take your call… thank you and have a safe day,” the Niagara Parks manager of health, safety and the environment’s voicemail says.
Health and safety is a job Deline takes seriously and expects the many supervisors he oversees to as well. By Ontario law, supervisors must be competent. But determining what competency means and whether supervisors really understand their OHS responsibilities under the law isn’t always easy.
Supervisors are expected to play on both sides, imposing the will of management and making sure policies and procedures come to life on the floor with workers, said Deline.
If something goes wrong they are first to be blamed.
“I often made the reference that supervisors are kind of like the sacrificial lambs of the health and safety world, simply because if something were to go wrong, they’re generally the first people that get called on, because they have direct authority over the injured worker,” he said.
Supervisors need to be on board with health and safety guidelines and laws because they’re the most important part of the programming. They communicate policies to the people who need to know them — the workers.
When Deline worked at the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA), a non-profit health and safety organization in Ontario which has since amalgamated with other OHS organizations, he was asked weekly by clients about what constituted supervisor competency, he said.
“Yet there is no supervisor competency program,” he said. “It’s never been clearly defined.”
Supervisors are expected to be familiar with the act, they have to know what the requirements are and they have to be able to investigate accidents, according to due diligence, said Deline.
Bill 160, Ontario’s new health and safety legislation, could make the question of what competency consists of easier to answer, he said.
“One of the recommendations on there was they were going to clearly define what was required of a supervisor, said Deline.
Even defining who counts as a supervisor isn’t always the easiest job for employers. Sometimes businesses only train people in occupational health and safety guidelines who are supervisors by title. But lead hands, group leaders and foremen still supervise people, despite the absence of a word in their titles, said Deline.
Managing supervisors at Niagara Parks is not a simple task. The organization is split into nine companies. There are retail outlets and golf courses. The organization also has its own police force, road maintenance crew and landscaping teams.
The most important thing for Deline is making sure supervisors know safety is a job requirement.
“First and foremost it’s making them aware that they in fact have some health and safety responsibility,” he said, adding when the Ministry of Labour shows up on site they don’t ask for Bob Deline, health and safety manager, they ask for the manager or supervisor of the site.
“Because nobody should know more about what’s going on in that workplace than those people, the location management.”
Taking the complex language of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and breaking it down so people understand it is important, said Laura Rourke, owner of Hummingbird Environment, Health and Safety in Cambridge, Ont.
“You don’t need to be able to quote it chapter and verse, they don’t need to have it memorized,” she said.
But supervisors should be able to identify common hazards in their workplaces and know how to mitigate them, she said.
“A lot of it is common sense but it is sort of reminding them that it’s common sense but it’s also the law.”
Rourke delivers OHS supervisor training to workplaces in industries like manufacturing and said one of the things that shocks her is when she has finished a day of training at a company and someone in a supervisory position asks: “Does this apply to me?”
“Certainly in my own experience there’s a lot of supervisors that just don’t even realize that safety is a large aspect of their responsibilities,” she said.
And it’s more than just complying with legislation.
Supervisors have to be trained to be health and safety leaders, said Shawn Galloway, president of ProAct Safety, based in The Woodlands, Texas.
It’s important for employers and senior management to put an emphasis on the importance of safety training, or supervisors will not, he said.
“Supervisors are going to pay attention to what their boss pays attention to,” said Galloway.
Helping supervisors motivate employees to keep OHS on the radar is a hot topic right now, said Galloway.
The reason a lot of organizations are starting to look at how to motivate supervisors to be health and safety leaders is because most organizations don’t know how to get there, Galloway said.
“Safety excellence is an absence of failures, but there’s a strong difference between excellence and success,” he said.
It’s also important for employers to recognize leadership skills are necessary when training supervisors.
“Not all good workers make a good supervisor,” said Deline.
“Sorry I can’t be with you here today, but I’m out and about saving lives here in the parks and can’t be here to take your call… thank you and have a safe day,” the Niagara Parks manager of health, safety and the environment’s voicemail says.
Health and safety is a job Deline takes seriously and expects the many supervisors he oversees to as well. By Ontario law, supervisors must be competent. But determining what competency means and whether supervisors really understand their OHS responsibilities under the law isn’t always easy.
Supervisors are expected to play on both sides, imposing the will of management and making sure policies and procedures come to life on the floor with workers, said Deline.
If something goes wrong they are first to be blamed.
“I often made the reference that supervisors are kind of like the sacrificial lambs of the health and safety world, simply because if something were to go wrong, they’re generally the first people that get called on, because they have direct authority over the injured worker,” he said.
Supervisors need to be on board with health and safety guidelines and laws because they’re the most important part of the programming. They communicate policies to the people who need to know them — the workers.
When Deline worked at the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA), a non-profit health and safety organization in Ontario which has since amalgamated with other OHS organizations, he was asked weekly by clients about what constituted supervisor competency, he said.
“Yet there is no supervisor competency program,” he said. “It’s never been clearly defined.”
Supervisors are expected to be familiar with the act, they have to know what the requirements are and they have to be able to investigate accidents, according to due diligence, said Deline.
Bill 160, Ontario’s new health and safety legislation, could make the question of what competency consists of easier to answer, he said.
“One of the recommendations on there was they were going to clearly define what was required of a supervisor, said Deline.
Even defining who counts as a supervisor isn’t always the easiest job for employers. Sometimes businesses only train people in occupational health and safety guidelines who are supervisors by title. But lead hands, group leaders and foremen still supervise people, despite the absence of a word in their titles, said Deline.
Managing supervisors at Niagara Parks is not a simple task. The organization is split into nine companies. There are retail outlets and golf courses. The organization also has its own police force, road maintenance crew and landscaping teams.
The most important thing for Deline is making sure supervisors know safety is a job requirement.
“First and foremost it’s making them aware that they in fact have some health and safety responsibility,” he said, adding when the Ministry of Labour shows up on site they don’t ask for Bob Deline, health and safety manager, they ask for the manager or supervisor of the site.
“Because nobody should know more about what’s going on in that workplace than those people, the location management.”
Taking the complex language of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and breaking it down so people understand it is important, said Laura Rourke, owner of Hummingbird Environment, Health and Safety in Cambridge, Ont.
“You don’t need to be able to quote it chapter and verse, they don’t need to have it memorized,” she said.
But supervisors should be able to identify common hazards in their workplaces and know how to mitigate them, she said.
“A lot of it is common sense but it is sort of reminding them that it’s common sense but it’s also the law.”
Rourke delivers OHS supervisor training to workplaces in industries like manufacturing and said one of the things that shocks her is when she has finished a day of training at a company and someone in a supervisory position asks: “Does this apply to me?”
“Certainly in my own experience there’s a lot of supervisors that just don’t even realize that safety is a large aspect of their responsibilities,” she said.
And it’s more than just complying with legislation.
Supervisors have to be trained to be health and safety leaders, said Shawn Galloway, president of ProAct Safety, based in The Woodlands, Texas.
It’s important for employers and senior management to put an emphasis on the importance of safety training, or supervisors will not, he said.
“Supervisors are going to pay attention to what their boss pays attention to,” said Galloway.
Helping supervisors motivate employees to keep OHS on the radar is a hot topic right now, said Galloway.
The reason a lot of organizations are starting to look at how to motivate supervisors to be health and safety leaders is because most organizations don’t know how to get there, Galloway said.
“Safety excellence is an absence of failures, but there’s a strong difference between excellence and success,” he said.
It’s also important for employers to recognize leadership skills are necessary when training supervisors.
“Not all good workers make a good supervisor,” said Deline.
