Safety Manager

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Safety Manager

Background

The safety management profession in engineering was created for the purpose of managing risk through minimizing it to acceptable levels or eliminating it completely. Risk in engineering refers to the probability of occurrence of a failure, and the consequences of the failure. For instance, failure of engineering concepts or designs may result in property damage, injuries, fatalities, and even deaths. The probability of occurrence of failure in engineering is difficult to predict as it could be caused by operator errors, environmental effects, and mechanical failures. Failure emanating from engineering problems can be rare, occasional, or frequent.

Reasons for its Creation

The reason for the creation of the position of a safety manager in engineering is to reduce the frequency of occurrence of failures and to ensure that the consequences of failures do not threaten life or property (Leveson, 2011). The process of safety engineering begins during the early phases of designing a system. Safety managers are charged with the duty of considering, the likely undesirable events that can occur, the conditions that can trigger the occurrence, and to project the accident risk that can be expected from such an occurrence. They then specify the safety mitigation requirements that should be implemented. They may propose changes to in-service products or CAD designs to make the system safer. Their main objective, when making proposals, is to lower the accident risk or to eliminate all potential hazards (Son & Gal, 2011). The main obligation of safety managers is to ensure that a completed existing design is safe. Safety managers participate in the design phase of the project to avoid the expensive costs of correc...

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Leveson, N., Dulac, N., Marais, K., & Carroll, J. (2009). Moving beyond normal accidents and high reliability organizations: a systems approach to safety in complex systems. Organization Studies, 30(2-3), 227-249. Retrieved from: http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/HRO-final.doc

Salary.com (n.d.). Salary Averages for Environmental, Health, and Safety Engineering Manager. Retrieved from: http://www1.salary.com/Env-Health-and-Safety-Engineering- Manager-Salary.html

Son, K., & Gal, W, (2011). Reasonability of Determination Equations for Assignment of Safety Engineers to Construction Sites. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 10(1), 157-162. Retrieved from: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaabe/10/1/10_1_157/_pdf

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