Health and Safety Manager Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the health and safety manager job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be asked to fulfill to be hired for the health and safety manager role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does a Health and Safety Manager Do?

Every organization has responsibility for the health and safety of its members of staff as well as visitors to its premises. This underlines the need for health and safety managers in every organization.

The health and safety manager is responsible for maintaining minimum standards of health and safety upon a premise in order to ensure that minimum standards of safety as identified by the employer and regulators are complied with.

His/her job description entails assisting health and safety regulators in carrying out a routine check on his/her organization.

He/she is detailed to review and/or develop minimum health and safety standards for compliance by members of staff.

He/she is expected to monitor existing and incoming legislation and regulations on health and safety in order to ensure that his/her organization complies with their requirements.

The health and safety manager’s role also involves assessing and analyzing the risk(s) associated with particular work schedule(s).

He/she is also responsible for engaging members of staff in periodic training to update them on their roles in the maintenance of minimum standards of safety.

He/she is to ensure that company’s policy on health and safety does not just end as mere policies but that they are complied with at every point in time.

The health and safety manager work description also entails reporting to the management the existence of an emergency and investigating the cause of such emergency.

His/her duties also involve keeping a record of all emergencies, near-misses, and critical situations for appropriate reviews.

He/she is detailed to reduce the risk(s) of the occurrence of emergencies on his/her organization’s premises.

Health and Safety Manager Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The health and safety manager performs various functions in ensuring organizations adhere to safety regulations in the workplace.

The major tasks, duties, and responsibilities that constitute the work activities of most health and safety managers are shown in the job description example below:

• Ensures that machines are in good state in order to avoid hazards
• Ensures the maintenance of a well-stocked first aid and emergency center in case of an emergency
• Foresees the possibility of an emergency occurring and carries out measures to prevent such from occurring
• Ensures company premises are free from hazardous substances which may be chemical, physical, or biological substances
• Organizes drills for members of staff to train them on the appropriate response to give in case of an emergency
• Assists in assessing and analyzing the possibility of a fire outbreak in the organization’s premises and the ability of the organization to respond adequately to it
• Reviews emergency situations to consider what the organization could have done to prevent them from occurring
• Considers and suggests ways to recycle waste products; to appropriately dispose them; and to ensure a reduction in the production and discharge of waste.

Requirements – Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge – For Health Safety Manager Role

If you are seeking the health and safety manager job in an organization, here are typical requirements and qualifications that you might be asked to meet by most employers to get an interview appointment:

• Ability to pay attention to details
• A Bachelor of Arts or Science degree in Safety Management or in a similar field is a major requirement. Completing a professional certification program in health and safety management can give you an advantage. A previous work experience in a related position can also give you an advantage with employers
• Strong knowledge of environmental and health and safety basic regulatory and legal framework
• Ability to communicate excellently either orally or in writing, to be able to effectively pass health and safety tips to colleagues and subordinates
• Ability to lead a team of people effectively and act equally as a team member
• Ability to foresee the possibility of a risk occurring and nipping it in the bud
• Literate in Information Technology, as well as Microsoft Office package
• Ability to effectively and efficiently handle pressure and still keep working schedules.

Conclusion

Hiring for a managerial position in any organization usually involves a tough process to ensure the best-qualified candidate is hired.

The sample job description for the health and safety manager position provided in this post is not only useful for hiring managers and recruiters in creating a detailed description of the position for their organizations when hiring for the role, to be able to attract the best candidates for the job, but also to prospective employees to understand what is required of them before applying for the job.

Also, if you are interested in starting a career in the health and safety management field, you will find this article beneficial in learning about the duties and responsibilities that characterize the position of the manager responsible for the health and safety of members of staff as well as visitors to a company’s premises.