Safety-Management Partnerships

Safety is a team effort that greatly depends on a strong working relationship between safety professionals (safety directors, coordinators, managers, etc.) and other managers in the company, ranging from the CEO to the supervisor in the field. There is no doubt that if a company is going to maintain an effective safety program, managers at all levels of the company need to partner with the safety professional. One of the most important partnerships a safety professional should strive to create is with the field supervisor. Although this is not a new concept, it is one that needs to be repeated –the field supervisor is critical to a successful safety program. If supervisors don’t buy in to the safety program, accidents are going to happen. Safety professionals should get to know the field supervisors because they are in the field daily, and research has shown they are closer to the workers. Supervisors know what is goin