The Evolving Functions Of The Health & Safety Professional
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We are in the midst of changing times. Powerful trends such as war, pandemic, carbon neutral movements, and emerging technologies are rapidly reshaping the work landscape. These trends are creating anxiety and questions amongst the health & safety professions. Does my job have a viable future? How exactly is my profession changing? In what areas can I upskill in order to remain relevant and competitive?
In this article we look at the areas where health & safety is being disrupted, and we identify ways in which the practitioner can enhance their role in the modern work setting
Think Global
Most organisations now operate within a global marketplace. As the developing world industrialises, the demand for health & safety know-how has never been stronger, particularly in China, the Middle-East, and India. More and more health & safety professionals are being lured abroad by attractive salaries in these young aggressive economies.
Modern technologies in diverse work settings are known to be rich breeding grounds for fresh ideas. And the opportunity to be involved will guarantee exposure to diverse methods of managing safety risk, without the burden of conventional thinking.
Whilst the practitioner may not put down permanent roots working abroad they will become prime candidates for increasingly diverse workplaces in their home countries. In such instances travel will broaden the mind for the ambitious young professional.
The modern practitioner must also look beyond local health & safety regulation and take a more global stance on benchmarking and standards.
International companies usually look to avoid the intricacies of local regulation by raising the bar and aligning themselves with global standards of management. These include ISO 45001 (Health and Safety Certification) and industry specific certifications commonly found in oil & gas, mining, and in manufacturing.
Becoming proficient with the highest standards of management will enable the health & safety practitioner to aim for more attractive opportunities at home and abroad.
Embrace Hybrid Roles
Many specialist health & safety roles such as ergonomists and hygienists are already at risk of obsoletion due to the adoption of automated systems, wearable PPE devices, and compliance software.
In comparison the generalist practitioner has traditionally had more areas of management within their remit, including accident investigation, worker behaviour, management systems, and audits.
However this is not to say that these job aspects are immune to digitalisation.
With this in mind the modern health & safety practitioner should acquire a broader range of skills and competencies. Forward thinking organisations have already begun to appreciate the skillset of risk and safety practitioners in the areas of wellbeing, quality, ethics and security.
The savvy health & safety practitioner will embrace such hybrid roles. Ensuring not only their indispensability, but ensuring greater exposure to move beyond health & safety, and into more strategic roles within the organisation.
Learn and Relearn
Nothing moves technology-adoption quicker than necessity. Trends such as working-from-home, flexible working hours, employee wellness, and platform working have been mooted for years. But the recent displacement and isolation of workers through war and pandemic has resulted in accelerated adoption of these ‘new’ work practices. Change awaits no one.
The practitioner will need to understand technology and changing business methods to understand their implications for health & safety.
To stay abreast of disruptive change he/she must become constant and flexible in their learning. This may involve specialist courses, attending exhibitions, and both personal and professional reading.
The most practical strategy in career learning is to become party to the thinking and planning structures within the organisation. This is somewhat of a role reversal in that the health & safety advisor – the traditional source of knowledge – must transition into an enthusiastic student.
Flexibility in learning requires wider organisational engagement in order to become more informed, more collaborative, and more proactive. To be an asset in times of change the practitioner must seek to be included in areas such as the R&D process, the procurement process, and in corporate risk endeavours.
Stepping out of the safety office to mix with other business functions may sound intimidating, but it may be the most actionable step a health & safety practitioner can take towards long-term career development.
A curious attitude today enables the health & safety practitioner to become a positive force tomorrow.
Leverage Universal Standards
The effectiveness of government health & safety agencies has become diluted over the last 15 years. Regulation is being surpassed by the sheer speed of technological advancement. Inspections are becoming less and less frequent in workplaces, and the prosecution fines issued by courts are mere pocket-change to global companies who measure profit in billions.
Every day there are increasing occupational scenarios where government regulation is absent due to speed of technological advancement. These include, the risks of working from home; occupational exposure limits for new materials; technologies which straddle different legislative areas; or use of robots and autonomous vehicles around people.
Such dilemmas are becoming increasingly familiar to the health & safety practitioner and reliance on local statutory bodies for regulation and guidance is sometimes futile. The practitioner needs to become more aware of the universal standards, and incentives at their disposal.
In order to ensure due diligence the practitioner must look further afield, to neighbouring jurisdictions and at industry best practices – at least until jurisdictional regulation catches up. We cover this in greater detail here.
It is often said that health & safety is the cornerstone of civilised society. And given modern sensibilities, industrial accidents and occupational ill-health are toxic to an organisations brand and reputation. This is particularly true in the digital-age where bad news spread fastest and farthest.
This demand for zero-risk at work, married with an aversion towards negative publicity is something that the modern health & safety practitioner must leverage to motivate those who look to local health & safety regulation as their moral and ethical compass.
Embrace Technology
Tomorrow’s health & safety professional will be both a technical expert and a change agent.
We know that emergent technologies bring disruptive change and sometimes present complex risks. But where there is risk, there is always opportunity.
Cutting edge technologies are rapidly being leveraged towards objectives in health & safety. Such examples include the use of IoT wearables to monitor the vital signs of mine workers; use of big data to predict workplace accidents; AI software to monitor worker behaviour; and the use of drones and robots to inspect hazardous environments.
The potential for health & safety wins are as endless as the technologies themselves. If the modern practitioner is to champion change, they must embrace the idea that new technologies can and will eliminate many of the traditional workplace hazards.
The proactive practitioner will lead brainstorming workshops and information-sharing forums in order to explore the uses for prospective technologies across the organisation.
Such collaborative exercises may not result in a direct health & safety application, but they will assist the practitioner in better understanding adopted technologies and their risk profile. Being involved in planning and adoption exercises will promote the practitioner as an asset in times of disruption and change.
Eventually, the modern health & safety practitioner will fully embrace emerging technology as a vehicle for transforming the human experience at work.
Garry McGauran is author and editor at Emerging Tech Safety. He has 18 years experience as a prototype risk assessor, design safety consultant, and academic research advisor, as well as heading up his own drone inspection service. He is a freelance safety consultant serving the tech, industrial, and utility sectors in Ireland and the UK.
