MANAGEMENT  RESPONSIBILITIES
Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission/ Health and Safety Division
www.awcc.state.ar.us    1-800-622-4472    FAX: 501-683-3169
Health&Safety@awcc.state.ar.us

GOAL

This program is designed to provide information to all levels of management on basic safety and health responsibilities.

OBJECTIVE

This information will familiarize managers and line-supervisors with the management commitment and responsibility required for creating and maintaining a safe work environment for employees. 

BACKGROUND

Although it is almost impossible to create a hazard-free work environment, a good manager who is committed to safety and who involves his/her employees in an effective safety program can provide an accident-free workplace.  

Commitment to safety begins with management.  Managers and front-line supervisors are accountable for the safety of their workplace and are responsible for the prevention of accidents. 

The importance of management commitment to a safe work environment will be discussed in this training guide.  The topics include communication, commitment, involvement, and implementation. 

COMMUNICATION

A manager or supervisor who has an open door policy encourages a close working relationship with his/her employees.  It is important that employees feel comfortable in informing the supervisor about potential safety hazards. A good manager/supervisor needs strong communication skills, good listening skills, and should practice these skills regularly.  Teamwork and a harmonious working atmosphere helps to maintain good working relationships.  Managers who encourage responsibility and allow employees adequate job control create a supportive environment. 

When management demonstrates a commitment to safety in the workplace, employees respond by taking a more active interest in safety.  Employees need to be encouraged by their managers and front-line supervisors to make suggestions for improvements in workplace safety and hazard reduction.  Managers and supervisors need to respond quickly and positively to those suggestions to show employees that their concerns are not only being heard but acted upon. 

A manager who regularly walks around the workplace, who knows employees by name, and expresses a genuine interest in the day-to-day operation of the business, inspires confidence in his/her employees.  Problems and hazards are likely to be identified more quickly and employees are more likely to pro-actively keep their workplace hazard-free.

Informal inspections can be used to identify and correct hazards on the spot.  An informal inspection should be a routine occurrence, especially in small businesses.  Five minute safety meetings can address housekeeping, emergency procedures, common accidents like slips, trips and falls, and back injury prevention.  A useful and open exchange of information between supervisors and employees can occur in this more relaxed and informal atmosphere.  

Formal safety meetings and training should be conducted on a regular basis.  In this setting new employees are trained in safe job procedures and experienced employees receive refresher courses related to their job.  The participants who attend formal safety training should have their safety skills and knowledge evaluated after the presentation, their attendance documented, and the information kept on file for possible OSHA inspections.  

COMMITMENT

Management commitment is the driving force for organizing and controlling activities within an organization.  A safety and health program is effective when management views a safe and healthy workplace environment as fundamental and applies its commitment to protect employees with as much vigor as it views other organizational goals and strategies.  

OSHA recommends the following actions be taken to show management commitment to the health and safety program:. 

•	State the worksite safety and health policy clearly so all personnel can understand the importance of it in relation to other organizational values.  

•	Establish and communicate the goal.  Objectives should be clearly defined so all levels of personnel understand the desired results and the required measures to achieve those results. 

•	Involve employees in decisions that affect their safety and health.  If involved, employees will likely commit their insight and energy to achieving the program’s goal and objectives. 

•	Provide visible top management support.  Visibility gives employees the sense that the top level cares and is truly committed to the safety of the employees. 

•	Assign and communicate responsibility to all personnel levels. Everyone should know what performance is expected and the consequences if performance levels are not achieved. 

•	Give authority to those assigned responsibilities to act on situations that affect the goal and objectives.  

•	Hold employees accountable to meet their responsibilities so that essential tasks will be performed. 

•	Review the safety program periodically to evaluate problems within the program and revise the objectives if the goals are not met. 

Employees express their commitment to safety and health protection for themselves and their fellow workers through their involvement.  An employee can enhance the program with a positive attitude towards safety.   

INVOLVEMENT

It is important for all levels of management to know and understand the safety rules that employees must follow and follow those same rules when walking through with visitors or conducting an inspection. 

It cannot be emphasized enough that commitment to workplace safety begins with the visible involvement and practice of the safety program by management itself.  

IMPLEMENTATION

In larger organizations safety committees are one way to involve employees and management in the production and maintenance of a health and safety program.  A committee can be formed to establish guidelines for activities that will involve divisions and departments in the active pursuit of safety.  Contests can be initiated and rewards given to those individuals or groups who demonstrate a reduction in accident levels or maintain a hazard-free worksite.  Contractors and consultants who work on-site must follow the same safe and health work practices required by all full and part-time employees. 

CONCLUSION

Safety is a corporate objective similar to sales and profit.  The bottom line for safety is its profitability in terms of increased quality in products, decreased workers’ compensation claims, savings when workers do not have to be replaced or retrained due to accidents, and potential reductions in health and insurance costs. 

REFERENCES

Videos pertinent to this subject may be obtained, at no cost,  from the Arkansas Department of Labor/Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s Health and Safety Resource Center at (501) 682-9090.

Disclaimer:  Information contained in this training program is considered accurate.  For complete information, please consult the General Duty Clause of the OSHA Act Section 5 (A), Public Law 91-596.