The Results-Oriented Safety Workplace

Safety jobs, whether first aid, accident investigation or inspections, are involved in a lot of detail. When safety people are so engrossed in the details of their jobs, it's easy for them, for anyone actually, to lose sight of the job's major contribution.

A Results-Oriented Safety Job Description is different from a traditional job description because it focuses an employee on the several job results that answer the question: What results must this safety affairs job accomplish for the organization?

Safety Job Standards added to job expectations tighten management controls by clarifying how well and when results must be accomplished.

Safety Job Objectives establish management and employee plans by highlighting important current and future results needed.

Job-specific Safety Employee Management Forms maintain consistent and safetyly sound management actions by basing manager-employee interactions on job results.

The Purpose of Safety Jobs

Stated in a results-oriented, three-line style, safety affairs jobs--

MAINTAIN SAFE AND HEALTHFUL ENVIRONMENT by

surveying environmental, operational, and occupational conditions; investigating violations; recommending preventive programs; developing safety systems, policies, and procedures; training managers and employees.

Types of Safety Jobs

Some safety jobs evaluate work conditions are develop rules and procedures to prevent injuries. Other jobs conduct inspections, or test equipment. Still other jobs investigate accidents to learn how to prevent more accidents. Somebody needs to guard locations to keep them safe. And, of course, somebody has to manage and supervise the safety people and processes.

Safety Job Management Tools

Here are actual job examples of how safety affairs job actions can be focused on results and kept on track using each of our job management tools:

Results-Oriented Safety Job Descriptions form the foundation of all job management tools. Our uniquely structured job descriptions focus on the result to be accomplished first and prominently, followed by the duties performed in order to accomplish the result. For example,

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Safety Job Standards sharpen employee attention and management control by defining and communicating how well the safety affairs results must be accomplished and what benchmarks will be used to measure job results. For example, for the job result above, the job standards might be:

• Safety situations are correctly understood.
• All options are identified and evaluated.
• Safety recommendations are ready when needed.

Safety Job Objectives point the direction for employee actions by focusing job efforts on current and future safety affairs issues. Job objectives are written in the three-line, results-oriented structure. For example, for the job result above, a job objective might be:

SPEED-UP DECISION MAKING by

reducing time to deliver safety affairs recommendations by 10% by (date).

Safety Employee Management Forms tied specifically to each safety affairs job description are more helpful (and safety) than generic forms used for all different kinds of jobs. Job-specific forms are used to state job qualifications, guide job interview questions, orient new employees, plan job training, and appraise job performance.

Safety Job Qualifications are stated in the same terms used in the job description. They are not translated into generic (typically behavioral) terms. For example:

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Safety Job Interview guide questions are inserted directly below each job result in the job description: For example:

• "What specific job responsibilities have you had in this area?"
• "Where did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "When did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "How did you go about accomplishing these responsibilities?"
• "What accomplishment in this area gave you the most pride?"
• "In this area, what were some of your biggest challenges?"
• "How did you overcome the challenges?"

The Safety Job Orientation guide reformats the job description sequence so that job explanations, policies, protocols, processes, and procedures are logical and complete and can easily be checked off. For example:

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Here's the procedure and format we use to analyze and present safety affairs recommendations."

The Safety Job Training plan guides a thorough examination of actual job knowledge, skills, and abilities as described in the job description that need improvement or that might be enhanced. For example:

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Analytical skills would be improved by enrolling in a statistical analysis class."

The Safety Job Performance Appraisal guide is a job-specific form. It is not a universal form used for all jobs. The guide adds an appraisal scale below each job result in the job description so that attention can be drawn to each job requirement and expectation. For example:

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

__ Great! Just want we wanted.
__ We have a problem.
__ Improvement is needed.
__ Much, much more than we asked for.

Comments: _________________

Safety Résumé Template

Potential employers want to know what a job applicant has accomplished in his/her safety affairs work career. They don't want to be bored with minor details. Our Résumé Template provides:

• an outline to help assemble personal background information.
• a Results-Oriented Job Description to provide the safety affairs job language-focused on results-needed to write an effective résumé.
• Safety Job Objectives to orient thinking in terms of accomplishments.
• instructions on how to use a Results-Oriented Safety Job Description and Safety Job Objectives to express job accomplishments.

Use the safety affairs job description responsibility statement as a base:

RECOMMENDS SAFETY ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Select the safety affairs job objective that fits your experience:

REDUCE COSTS 10% by

improving safety affairs processes.

Combine the two into a résumé statement:

Reduced costs 10% by analyzing, identifying, and recommending new safety affairs system controls.

Safety Career Links

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Health and Safety Specialists and Technicians

Training and education needed for occupational health and safety specialists and technicians jobs, earnings, expected job prospects, what occupational health and safety specialists and technicians do on the job, and working conditions.

American Society of Safety Engineers, Careers in Safety

Overview of careers, college and university programs, career opportunities.

American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Center for chemical Process Safety, Careers in Process Safety

What is process safety? and more.

University of Central Missouri, Career in Safety Sciences

Career choices, salary range, career advancement, graduate degrees.

Indiana University, Safety Management

Description of major, knowledge and skills, career options, job outlook, salaries, potential career outlook.

Education Center Online, Safety Engineering

Job purpose, duties, job opportunities, schools.

DiplomaGuide.com, Master of Safety Engineering

Overview, career opportunities, career outlook, degree specifics, skills learned.