debate why or why not a safety officer is responsible for any accidents or other safety happenings and cite legal aspects
From India, Visakhapatnam
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4From India, Visakhapatnam
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Nice question for debate.
My opinion:
A Safety Officer is responsible for accidents because:
His appointment is for the purpose of effectively implementing safety systems with the goal of zero accidents.
Regards,
Abhay
From India, Mumbai
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My opinion:
A Safety Officer is responsible for accidents because:
His appointment is for the purpose of effectively implementing safety systems with the goal of zero accidents.
Regards,
Abhay
From India, Mumbai
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Dear Abhay,
Safety is the responsibility of everyone, so it would be wrong to say that the safety officer is solely responsible for any accidents. He cannot be present everywhere, so it is equally the responsibility of the job incharge to ensure that the job they are supervising is safe.
Regards,
Hansa
From India, Udaipur
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Safety is the responsibility of everyone, so it would be wrong to say that the safety officer is solely responsible for any accidents. He cannot be present everywhere, so it is equally the responsibility of the job incharge to ensure that the job they are supervising is safe.
Regards,
Hansa
From India, Udaipur
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Dear All,
As per my understanding, a safety professional can be the overall custodian of any activity related to safety in the plant. There is no doubt in that. However, directly, they are not at all responsible or accountable for any mishaps or incidents inside the plant.
Can you please point out any event or news in which a safety professional has gone beyond the limits related to any industrial incidents?
Regards,
Dipil Kumar V
From India
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As per my understanding, a safety professional can be the overall custodian of any activity related to safety in the plant. There is no doubt in that. However, directly, they are not at all responsible or accountable for any mishaps or incidents inside the plant.
Can you please point out any event or news in which a safety professional has gone beyond the limits related to any industrial incidents?
Regards,
Dipil Kumar V
From India
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Dipilji, Hansaji, thank you for your input.
Here are my views:
1. The Safety Officer is the ambassador of the organization for safety-related matters.
2. The root cause of any accident is a poor safety management system.
3. Effective implementation of the safety management system (SMS) is the primary responsibility of the Safety Officer. In case of any hurdles in effective implementation, according to the law, he can direct reports to the topmost authority for adequate action.
4. If the Safety Officer fails to fulfill his duties as per the SMS, there are chances of accidents.
Regards,
Abhay
From India, Mumbai
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Here are my views:
1. The Safety Officer is the ambassador of the organization for safety-related matters.
2. The root cause of any accident is a poor safety management system.
3. Effective implementation of the safety management system (SMS) is the primary responsibility of the Safety Officer. In case of any hurdles in effective implementation, according to the law, he can direct reports to the topmost authority for adequate action.
4. If the Safety Officer fails to fulfill his duties as per the SMS, there are chances of accidents.
Regards,
Abhay
From India, Mumbai
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Hi,
In my view, a Safety Officer provides direction to an organization for the effective implementation of a safety system that ensures zero accidents. If these systems are not implemented due to numerous reasons beyond the control of the Safety Officer, how can one hold the Safety Officer responsible for accidents? Certainly, they should be held accountable for any mishaps within the organization.
Regards,
Krunal
From India, Mumbai
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In my view, a Safety Officer provides direction to an organization for the effective implementation of a safety system that ensures zero accidents. If these systems are not implemented due to numerous reasons beyond the control of the Safety Officer, how can one hold the Safety Officer responsible for accidents? Certainly, they should be held accountable for any mishaps within the organization.
Regards,
Krunal
From India, Mumbai
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Dear All,
I do have another opinion. A Safety Officer/Manager is only an advisory body. They can advise the laborers, foreman, site engineer, and Project Managers that if proper HSE measures are not taken, accidents may happen.
Regards,
Suresh M.G
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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I do have another opinion. A Safety Officer/Manager is only an advisory body. They can advise the laborers, foreman, site engineer, and Project Managers that if proper HSE measures are not taken, accidents may happen.
Regards,
Suresh M.G
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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Dear Friends,
I was watching all those postings, “why or why not safety officer is responsible for any accidents”?
On a debate, many questions arise:
If the industry is safe, only the safety officer can claim all the credit, or the entire employees from top to bottom.
Where there is no safety officer, who is responsible for accidents?
My doubt again - Is the safety officer responsible for accidents or accident prevention?
Accidents are caused. By removing the causes, accidents are prevented, and we learn.
Now, who is responsible for removing the causes?
There is no accident having a single cause. For an accident, there may be many causes, some of which are interrelated. For each cause, there may be owners and in some cases joint owners. In that case, responsibility is shared by every owner of those causes.
In accident prevention, unless an accident investigation proves willful negligence on an individual, no one can be branded responsible for that accident.
Like every other profession, a safety officer is also responsible for satisfactorily discharging his assigned duties. If he fails to discharge his duties and that results in a particular accident, of course, he alone is responsible for that accident, and otherwise, his responsibility is equal to everyone else in the organization.
Regards,
Kesava Pillai
From India, Kollam
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I was watching all those postings, “why or why not safety officer is responsible for any accidents”?
On a debate, many questions arise:
If the industry is safe, only the safety officer can claim all the credit, or the entire employees from top to bottom.
Where there is no safety officer, who is responsible for accidents?
My doubt again - Is the safety officer responsible for accidents or accident prevention?
Accidents are caused. By removing the causes, accidents are prevented, and we learn.
Now, who is responsible for removing the causes?
There is no accident having a single cause. For an accident, there may be many causes, some of which are interrelated. For each cause, there may be owners and in some cases joint owners. In that case, responsibility is shared by every owner of those causes.
In accident prevention, unless an accident investigation proves willful negligence on an individual, no one can be branded responsible for that accident.
Like every other profession, a safety officer is also responsible for satisfactorily discharging his assigned duties. If he fails to discharge his duties and that results in a particular accident, of course, he alone is responsible for that accident, and otherwise, his responsibility is equal to everyone else in the organization.
Regards,
Kesava Pillai
From India, Kollam
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Dear Sir,
Have you heard of any cases in which Safety Professionals have been arrested regarding accidents? If so, please share your experience with us.
As per the Factories Act, all reportable accidents must be reported to the factory inspectorate by the Factory Manager within the stipulated time. Suppose such an accident is not reported and is later discovered by the factory inspector. In this situation, will a Safety Professional be blamed? What could have gone wrong in such a scenario?
Regards,
Dipil Kumar V
From India
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Have you heard of any cases in which Safety Professionals have been arrested regarding accidents? If so, please share your experience with us.
As per the Factories Act, all reportable accidents must be reported to the factory inspectorate by the Factory Manager within the stipulated time. Suppose such an accident is not reported and is later discovered by the factory inspector. In this situation, will a Safety Professional be blamed? What could have gone wrong in such a scenario?
Regards,
Dipil Kumar V
From India
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It is the responsibility of the safety officer to inform the factory inspector. If the factory inspector becomes aware later on, both the factory manager and the safety officer will be in deep trouble. The safety officer has to inform the factory inspector within 4 hours of a fatal incident, along with the Magistrate, Police, nearest relative of the deceased, and ESI commissioner (if applicable).
From India, Ahmedabad
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From India, Ahmedabad
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