Such a position as an occupational safety engineer must exist in any enterprise, regardless of its form of ownership, since it is the duty of any employer to provide the safest conditions for everyone who works in his organization.
An important and very interesting profession
Obviously, the management simply does not have free time that could be devoted to monitoring the implementation of all safety standards and rules for each individual worker. Therefore, such a responsible mission is entrusted to an occupational safety engineer who must have experience as an engineer in this industry so that his direct duties are as simple and understandable to him as possible. He must not only control the whole situation at the enterprise, but also make sure that dangerous situations never arise.
Some nuances
As already mentioned, a similar position must exist in any organization. There are some nuances that are important for both the employer and the potential engineer to know:
- if the company employs more than 50 people, the labor protection service must be obligatory (in practice, only a labor protection engineer will be registered at such a small enterprise in such a small company);
- the duties of such a specialist in enterprises where there are less than 50 employees, may be performed by the head or employee, on whom he will entrust such duties;
- a labor protection engineer must have an appropriate education, and preferably experience in a similar field;
- a good specialist must understand the current legal framework, understand the regulations and specialized rules relating to the area in which the enterprise operates.
More about responsibilities
Before becoming an employee of the enterprise and starting his new interesting job, the future labor protection engineer should not only know his duties superficially, but be absolutely and completely aware of them, because a large enterprise where such a specialist will work is dangerous an object.
The list of the most important and primary duties of an occupational safety engineer should include the following:
- Certification of jobs . It is clear that a safe enterprise should consist of safe jobs. The duties of an occupational safety engineer imply that a specialist must personally check their condition and conduct current control over him, promptly responding to any kind of hazard. Certification of the workplace should be carried out at least once every five years. Also certification should be subject to new equipment that has not yet been involved in production.
- The order of the labor protection engineer states that he must not only conduct certification, but also, after discovered inconsistencies, propose options for resolving a particular issue. Large and developed organizations have a practice of searching for new solutions to such problems through events where employees themselves can express their opinion on how to make work safer.
- Certification of workers. In any organization (even in educational institutions), special lectures are held at which safety rules should be explained in detail to workers (students). Confirmation that such lectures were heard by each of the employees are their signatures in a special registration journal.
- If an entire labor protection service operates at the enterprise, then the main duties of a labor protection engineer include regular scheduled and unscheduled verification of the safety level in each individual workshop or unit. If a non-compliance is found, the responsibility will be assigned to the responsible person. The head has the right to choose the measure of punishment for his subordinate.
- The Accident Investigation Commission , which should also include an occupational safety engineer, must make important decisions related to redressing damage to an employee who suffered during the labor process. This means that the order of the labor protection engineer also includes information that clearly states that the specialist must understand the letter of the law and operate with norms and acts that apply to the organization.
Also, the entrepreneur has the full right to change this list, adding new responsibilities to it.
What should a good occupational safety engineer know?
In order to carry out their duties without problems and difficulties, any labor protection engineer should be well acquainted with:
- labor code: this is the main document that will serve as the basis for decision-making;
- current legislative acts that are directly related to industrial safety; the specialist should also closely monitor the updating of such a database;
- the timing and regularity of repeated certifications and activities that should teach the average worker how to protect themselves in the process of activity;
- features of the equipment that operates at the enterprise: this fact is very important, because without the necessary knowledge it will be impossible to certify the equipment; and this means that the labor protection engineer will probably sign the inferior document with his own hands;
- duties and level of responsibility of each individual head of the workshop or unit, because understanding who is responsible for what at the enterprise is the first step towards the most perfect organization of activities.
Can only one labor protection engineer work in a large enterprise?
Responsibilities (education is of great importance here) engineer can perform in a small enterprise one person. But the employer must be self-interested so that the number of workers and similar specialists corresponds to the proportion, that is, the larger the enterprise, the more labor protection engineers. After all, it is much cheaper to ensure the safety of the labor process than to pay the bills of workers injured during work in unsafe conditions.
On the rights of a labor protection engineer
Since the work of this specialist is more related to monitoring and timely verification, he has, for example, the right to enter any work shop and inspect any workplace without warning .
The labor protection engineer has the right:
- make sure the correctness of the preparation of documents that relate to labor and technical safety of equipment;
- help decision-makers to recover employees who violate safety standards, endangering themselves, other people, equipment;
- submit for consideration by managers the issue of encouraging workers who comply with all safety and labor protection rules;
- temporarily suspend persons who deliberately rudely violate safety precautions from fulfilling their direct labor duties until the time when the managerial staff decides on the measure of punishment, which the labor protection engineer must also approve.
The duties and rights of a specialist in this field are directly related and can also vary interdependently.
Who does the labor protection engineer interact with directly?
The duties (introductory briefing is also included here) of the labor protection engineer indicate that he must constantly cooperate with technical workers, engineers and shop managers, auxiliary personnel, and senior management.
Regardless of the size of the enterprise and the number of assistants for an occupational safety engineer, all responsibility for the safety of the entire organization lies with him.
Requirements that a modern labor protection engineer must meet
We have already studied the responsibilities briefly, now we will make a picture of what the head of a good enterprise will require from a promising employee.
So, these are the following qualities:
- confident computer skills - since a labor protection engineer must generate and submit reports in a timely manner, you can’t do without the help of computer equipment and basic programs;
- successful passage of labor protection inspections : since preference is given to candidates who have already managed to work in this area for some time (not only as occupational safety engineers), then, accordingly, they should have passed such inspections without any comments and problems;
- the ability to interact with inspection bodies , since reports on labor protection will be checked by higher authorities of the state; the labor protection engineer must provide it in its entirety, in time, to be able to explain the data that is displayed in it.
And, as already mentioned, without knowing the legal framework for a well-paid position in a good organization, a potential employee may not count on it.
About payment for the performance of such duties
A good security engineer in a large corporation can earn about ten to twelve minimum monthly wages. In state institutions, the remuneration will be much lower, despite the fact that there the person will also work in exactly the same position - "Occupational Safety Engineer". Responsibilities in housing and communal services, for example, in fact, he will have the same as that of the aforementioned specialist. A similar gradation is associated with the organization’s ability to pay and the form of support. Budget organizations are a good start for young professionals, because here you can get the experience required of everyone whose job title is “Occupational Safety Engineer”. Responsibilities at school, for example, for such a specialist will be simple, but they will be enough to study the nuances and subtleties of this profession.
And finally ...
Only a very responsible person should occupy the position of an engineer for labor protection, because the lives of dozens, hundreds of workers whom families are waiting for at home will depend on him.