Improving health and safety systems in the company requires a high level of commitment from all employees.

On one hand, managers are a fundamental piece for the integration of prevention in the company as they lead the company’s culture and the implication on worker’s health. On the other hand, workers with lower categories are those who can give voice to failures in the safety prevention systems and suggest improvements to the existing regulations.

Due to different factors: size of the company, workers exposure to danger, previous incidents, regulatory compliance, etc; many companies need to incorporate the role of the Head of Security.

In essence, this person will be responsible for designing, implementing, managing, coordinating and executing the activities of the company’s Occupational Health and Safety Management System.

The attitude and personal attributes of this leader are vital to inspiring employees to achieve significant improvements in the processes and results. For that, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) recommends that prevention leaders should have the following 5 attributes:

LEADERSHIP

This attribute is needed in all circumstances. When in adverse situations, a good and effective leader will be able to maintain emotional control and have initiative to make decisions. Moreover, he/she should be able to anticipate risks and opportunities, and involve their people in everything they set out to do.

OBJECTIVITY

Objectivity is the ability to consider problems rationally, impersonally, and impartially. It is an extension of perception. Where perception creates an awareness of facts, events, and other realities, objectivity helps the leader minimize emotional and personal factors that could obscure the perception of reality.

PERCEPTION

Perception involves the ability to observe or discover the realities of one’s environment. Leaders must know the objectives and goals of the entire organization in order to work towards their achievement.

SETTING PRIORITIES

The leader must have the ability to see what is important and what is not, to know which alternatives are worth considering and which ones are not. When supervision is at stake, the priority-focused leader pays attention to the most important and critical areas.

COMMUNICATION

In the prevention of occupational risks (ORP), communication is an essential basic tool to involve workers. Managers must know how to communicate with employees in order to:

> Give instructions related to LRP.
> Alert about the risks to which employees are exposed.
> Make employees aware of the correct use of preventive measures.
> Warn employees when they are acting unsafe.

MOTIVATION

Leaders must promote a culture in which “Health and safety” is a value shared by all:

> Awakening in workers an interest in caring for your health.
> Making them aware of their own vulnerability to have an accident.
> Convincing them about the importance of protecting themselves

Good communicators often find all responsibilities (planning, organizing, controlling, and especially leading) easier because they can relate to others easily and can make better use of available data.

At ENGIDI, another quality that we would like to highlight is the capacity for innovation in prevention processes. All companies are working under the same umbrella: digitization. Like all managers and company leaders, the head of security must be aware of the latest initiatives and innovations on the market that help make their work more efficient and improve results, in this case, reduce the dangerousness of the workplace.