safety director

[trailduster2]

Ok I know no one really cares for them, but I am tinking about going to school to be one. Any on have any thoughts on this? Is the money and the traviling worth it? What school has the best training? Let me know what you all think about a carrer in this field?

The idea came to me yesterday when our director came out to the job site and spent all day there messing up our hole day. I thought to myself "man what a job" He is getting a butt load of money and drives a nice truck to go around and tell every one what there doing wrong and right. I am a little twisted I suppose but hay if there is a good safety director out there then things may be differant for some of us. I can find things that are wrong in our division on a daily basis. However we also have a great safety platform. Where would you look at going to school for this and what certs are needed to do the job?

Marc

 

[BC WetCoast]

The easy part of being a safety officer is going around doing crew inspections.

When there's a fatality, guess who has to participate in the investigation (been there done that, not fun).

You are the front man for when the gov't safety agency (OSHA, worksafe BC etc) comes a calling, again not fun.

You have to fully understand ALL the safety regs, especially the conflicting ones, decide which ones the company is not in compliance and then begin the internal political battle to make the necessary changes to get into compliance. Migraine inducing.

 

[Philbert]

Ok I know no one really cares for them,. . . our director came out to the job site and spent all day there messing up our hole day. . . . go around and tell every one what there doing wrong and right.

The attitudes that you are expressing are one of the biggest challenges of working in safety - guys who think they know more; that 'it' will never happen to them; that the safety guy beats them up about silly things; that they could get more done without the safety guy getting in their way; etc.

I work in safety (but not for a tree company). My job is not to slow you down, or to show you how smart I am, but to get the job done and to let you go home every night unharmed.

Safety is about managing risk, and a lot of risk is based on statistics - things that have occurred to others doing similar types of activities. Even if it has never happened to you, to anyone you know, or anyone in your company. Yet. That's why OSHA guys talk about regulations that are 'written in blood' - they are based upon injuries that have happened, and that they are trying to prevent from happening again.

Lot of guys (in a lot of fields) want to be independent and left alone to do things their own way - say it is up to them to take the risk - until they get hurt. Then they want to sue somebody, collect work comp or welfare because they cant work, claim that their situation was 'an accident that could not have been avoided', etc.

If you look at tree cutting you will see the types of injuries that occur on a regular basis. When they are that predictable, they are not an accident. And a lot of the regulations for procedures or equipment are based on preventing or minimizing injuries even if something unexpected does occur.

So being a 'good safety guy' is more than just knowing all the types of regs that BC WetCoast mentions. Its motivating the workers to follow them, or to get rid of the ones who can't be bothered with them. Its knowing the industry and its work and its hazards. Its finding ways to get the job done while controlling for the recognized hazards.

Certifications are based on what the employer wants. You might not need a college degree, but if you do, there are Bachelors and Masters programs in safety all over the country. There might be some specific, or geared more to forestry or tree work than to general industry. Here are some sample links - these are not at all inclusive:

http://niosh-erc.org/
http://www.asse.org/professionalaffairs/education/directory/directory_abet.htm
http://www.bcsp.org/

Philbert

 

[trailduster2]

Thanks Philbert, I know there are some issues with being a S.D. and that it is true that you have a day filled with nothing getting accompliched. We dred it every time he comes around. We are told from our boss that we have a deadline for this job or that, and then the saftey guy showes up and now the heat is on!!! We have to stop every 10 minutes and listen to a story about what happened with this guy that did this or did that andthis is what happened. Please don't get me wrong, This is good information! but every time he is there we have around half the production that we normaly get done. Is it because were not being safe or is it because of the stories? Not sure and I am not here to bad mouth there job! Dont take it that way at all. I know thay are there to keep use safe, thay have a job to do as well and that its not all glamorous. I am just trying to find out if it would be benificial to me to have a job doing this threw your comments. I have staited that I can find issues with the way we do things and we to have become complaciant in some areas and that is when accidents happen. We have had two deathes because of this.

So I will have to get with the company H.R. department and see what there standards are and what type of certs thay are requiring to have the job, Is that what I am understanding?

Again thanks for the info.
Marc