Industrial workplaces in our part of the country are beehives of activity, where operations may continue for almost twenty-four hours a day. Much of this work is very dangerous with hazards that are well-known to the employers as well as workers, regulatory agencies, industrial researchers, safety organizations, and those who advocate for work accident victims and their loved ones.
Here in Indiana and Illinois, workers in warehousing; construction; manufacturing; railroading; trucking; steel production; agri-business; and other industries face potentially fatal on-site hazards as part of their usual workday. For more, read: What Is The Most Dangerous Job in Indiana and Illinois?, What Is Killing Our Construction Workers? The New CPWR Report, and Steelworkers’ Dangers on the Job: Top Five Steel Industry Hazards.
Employers, regardless of the industry, have legal duties of care and safety placed upon them to keep workers and others on the job site safe from injury. For many industrial workers, the key to their safety lies in the hands of their on-site supervisors.
Supervisors are the employer’s direct representatives in making sure that the workplace is safe and healthy for everyone on the job and the company’s duties of care are being met.
What Supervisors Should Be Doing on the Job to Keep Workers Safe
Of course, supervisors have the responsibility of making sure that the work is being done, and that it is being done properly, cost-effectively, and within the deadline. Delay damages on a construction site can be disastrous for a project, for instance, and supervisors are vital to avoiding unnecessary delays.
However, supervisors also have a tremendous responsibility in keeping people safe from injuries while at work. That safety responsibility is “primary” and multifaceted, as explained by the National Institutes of Health (quoting directly):
The following is a list of primary responsibilities that supervisors have in the area of occupational safety and health for all employees under their supervision.
Conduct Orientation and Training of Employees:
Train and instruct employees so they can perform their work safely. Know what personal protective equipment is needed for each task and how this equipment must be properly used, stored and maintained. When there are mandated safety training courses, ensure that your employees take them and that they are appropriately documented.
Enforce Safe Work Practices:
It’s the supervisor’s responsibility to enforce safe work practices and procedures; failure to do so is an invitation for accidents to occur. Workers must be encouraged to identify unsafe or unhealthful workplace conditions or hazards and absolutely not be disciplined for doing so!
Correct Unsafe Conditions:
Supervisors must take immediate steps to correct unsafe or unhealthful workplace conditions or hazards within their authority and ability to do so. When an unsafe or unhealthful workplace condition or hazard cannot be immediately corrected, the supervisor must take temporary precautionary measures. Supervisors must follow-up to ensure that corrective measures are completed in a timely manner to address the hazard.
Prevent Lingering Unsafe or Unhealthful Workplace Conditions or Hazards:
Many near miss incidents are caused by unsafe or unhealthful workplace conditions or hazards. It’s the supervisor’s responsibility to train and periodically remind employees of what to look for and how to correct or report unsafe conditions or hazards. If a hazard is identified, the supervisor must act.
Investigate Workplace Accidents:
Supervisors are responsible for conducting accident investigations and for ensuring that all occupationally injured employees report to the Occupational Medical Service (OMS) immediately. Note: NIH Policy requires all injuries, including those sustained by contractors, to be reported to OMS. OMS works with the pision of Occupational Health and Safety to identify hazardous conditions leading to injuries. The OMS will document and treat any acute injuries. All facts and opinions regarding the cause of the accident must be compiled and documented on the Workers Compensation Forms (CA-1 or CA-2). Supervisors must review the circumstances, sign and submit the forms within 48 hours.
Promote Quick Return to Work:
Employees must be encouraged to return to work as soon as possible. The longer an employee is away from work, the less likely he or she will actually return. When possible, light or limited duties should be identified and considered, to assist in returning the employee to work.
Sadly, many companies may drill into their management meetings, either directly or by suggestion, that a focus on profits is most important for workplace supervisors, not safety standards. It is misplaced priorities within management, including supervisors, that can cause catastrophic injuries or death in a worksite accident.
Supervisors and Industrial Work Accidents
Accident prevention should be the goal of company management, especially supervisors, because human life is sacred. Workers should be able to rely upon their employers to keep them safe as they perform tasks that build revenue for the company.
Supervisor Responsibilities to Prevent Work Accident Injuries
Supervisors on the floor or in the field need to be educated on the dangers and hazards unique to their job site, and how best to maximize worker safety in the face of these dangers. Their daily tasks and work performance reviews should include things like:
- keeping up-to-date with all regulatory and industrial standard requirements for the worksite (e.g., OSHA, ANSI);
- daily inspections of the site (equipment, floors, vehicles, etc.);
- daily inspections of workers (personal protective equipment issues; fatigued workers; workers under the influence; etc.);
- filing prompt work orders for needed safety repairs, replacement, or maintenance;
- monitoring work to make sure that safety standards are being maintained on the job;
- training and education of workers on safety;
- reporting safety concerns and any safety issues to management (including suggestions for amendments to the company safety plan); and
- being prepared for immediate response should there be a worker accident on the site, including how to best protect the worker from additional injury while awaiting emergency medical care.
Supervisor Safety Training
Supervisor Safety Programs are available to educate the site supervisor on safety matters. OSHA, for instance, offers its 145-hour Construction Site Safety Supervisor Program where “…[a]s an “agent of the employer,” and the first-line representative of management, every supervisor has a legal obligation to understand his or her safety responsibilities in the workplace.”
Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council also offers its Supervisors’ Safety Development Program, where supervisors and managers in various industries are trained “…to incorporate best safety practices into their daily management activities.”
Safety and Health Officers
In some industrial work environments, the company will fill a safety position with a trained professional usually referred to as a “safety and health officer.” The American Society of Safety Professionals explains that this job can also come with job titles that include prefixes like “safety and health,” followed by Specialist; Advisor; Coordinator; Technician; or Professional.
This is a different employee from a field or floor supervisor. This is a recruited employee whose entire role within the organization is to keep workers safe. More and more, these jobs are being filled by individuals with a bachelors’ degree in a field related to the particular industry (for instance, engineering) or in occupational or environment health.
This employee will have no other responsibilities other than to monitor safety and health issues at the workplace. The position may also include the ability to deal with hazards that are discovered on the site, such as stopping work, as well as personnel matters like pulling a worker who is unsafe to continue work. See, Lockout and Tagout (LOTO) Injuries on the Job: a Top Ten OSHA Safety Violation and Shift Work Accidents: Fatigue Dangers and Workplace Impairment.
Supervisor Duties After Worker is Hurt or Killed on the Job
When an accident does happen, it is important for workers and their loved ones to know that it is the responsibility of the field or floor supervisor to take the first steps on behalf of the company in investigating the event, as well.
This is not a safety duty inasmuch as it is the beginning of the company’s (and its carrier’s) building of legal defenses to liability for the accident and its bodily injury consequences. Supervisors will be acting as company management, not friend or buddy of the worker, from a legal perspective immediately upon the accident event taking place.
Workers and their loved ones have a right to investigate the work accident to learn everything that contributed to the incident and why it happened, including things like if the company had provided proper safety training to the field or floor supervisor; if the supervisor’s suggestions and requests for safety had been filed, respected, or ignored; and if the supervisor’s actions contributed to the accident itself or to protecting the company in the aftermath.
For more, read:
- Industrial Housekeeping and Construction Site Accidents
- Workplace Housekeeping and Serious Accidents on the Job: Duty of Care
- Manufacturing Work in Indiana and Illinois: Can Workers Force Manufacturers to Make Job Sites Safer?
- Dangerous Work Site: Your Right to Stop Work to Avoid Injury or Death
- Confined Spaces: Asphyxiation Risks and the Tragedy of Rescuer Deaths.
Supervisors work every day with workers, but they wear the company hat. If the field or floor supervisor fails in safety duties, then the company’s duty of care can be breached with tragic consequences for which the company and other parties may be legally liable. Please be careful out there!
