Special Interest Groups Forums : Education

Supervision / Leadership in Safety

Date Posted: 01/03/2010 14:36 - Rodney Lawless
Last Modified Date: 01/03/2010 14:36 - Rodney Lawless

Hi All,

 I am not sure if anyone else has this problem, but currently I am looking at developing some key 'competencies' (for want of a better word), in safety supervision and leadership.  Now don't get me wrong; I am aware that there are several units of competency and training courses available through RTO's and the like, but I sit in a small division within a very large company and to date have noted the following:

Some organisations tend to promote people internally for one of two reasons (this may just be my opinion...) - 1) because there is no-one else to fill a key role quickly enough or 2) because they are simply just really good at what they do.

 Following on from this 'promotion', time is spent in ensuring they can perform the operations of the job, but very little time is spent in ensuring the person has relevant skills and knowledge to be a leader / superviser in the day to day management of safety (integrated into planning, communication and execution of an activity or job).

This, I believe, is an important attribute / skill a Supervisor should have and so I am working on structuring some sort of moduled training in safety as it stands in relation to the way the business operates.

I understand there are several packages and competencies relating to supervisor training; however, they tend to be generic packages and leave a lot of the understanding up to the trainee to make a connection - hence my project.

 Has anyone else experienced this and done the same, I would really appreciate not having to reinvent the wheel too much on this so some input would be appreciated.

 thanks