EIGHTH EDITION

Roles and
Professional
Certifications for
Safety and Health
Professionals

Occupational Safety and Health, Eighth Edition Copyright © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.
David L. Goetsch All Rights Reserved
Modern Safety and Health Teams

• The issues that concern modern

safety and health managers include:
– Stress; explosives; laws, standards, and
codes.
– Radiation; AIDS; product safety and
liability.
Modern Safety and Health Teams

• The issues that concern modern

safety and health managers include:
– Ergonomics; ethics; automation;
workers' compensation.
– An ever-changing multitude of other
issues.
Modern Safety and Health Teams

• It is unreasonable to expect one

person to be an expert in all the
complex & diverse issues faced in the
modern workplace.
• Typical positions comprising a safety
& health team.
A modern safety and health team.

Managing director
 Role of managing director

The Managing Director is responsible for

the overall arrangements and for ensuring
that the company’s operations are
executed at all times in such a manner as
to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health, safety and welfare
of all employees and others who may be
affected by its operations.
 Role of managing director
In particular the Managing Director will:

• Ensure there is an effective company policy for health and safety and that all employees,
contractors and temporary workers are made aware of their individual responsibility.

• To understand and ensure, through the appointment of competent persons, that the
company’s responsibilities as employers under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
and any relevant Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments are met.

• To appoint a manager responsible for safety.

• To ensure that all Directors and Managers understand and fulfill their responsibilities with
regard to health and safety.

• Arrange for funds and facilities to meet the requirements of company policy and legislation.

• Make provision for adequate and appropriate training to be given to all employees.

• To ensure that notification and reporting procedures to the relevant statutory authorities are
carried out.

• Set a personal example on all matters of health and safety.

 Company health and safety policy
A policy is a written statement, usually comprises three elements:

• A statement section (often a single page) detailing how safety will be

managed and that demonstrates the organisation's commitment to
health and safety
• An organisation section that details where responsibilities are
allocated and how employees fit into the overall safety management
system
• An arrangements section that contains details of how specific
activities and functions are managed.

This arrangements section could include such matters as risk

assessments, fire safety, first aid, accident reporting, electrical safety,
work equipment, hazardous substances, manual handling and other
workplace issues.
In larger organisations the arrangements section may refer to other
documents, such as safety manuals or safe systems of work.
Safety and Health Manager
• Companies committed to a safe &
healthy workplace employ a safety &
health manager at an appropriate
level in the corporate hierarchy.
– The manager's position in the hierarchy
is an indication of the company's
commitment and priorities.
Safety and Health Manager
• Safety & health manager duties
range include hazard analysis,
accident reporting,
standards/compliance, record
keeping, training, emergency
planning, etc.
Role in the Company Hierarchy

• The safety & health manager's role in

a company depends in part on
whether his/her safety & health
duties are full time or are in addition
to other duties.
– In some companies, safety & health
managers may have other duties, like a
production or personnel manager.
Role in the Company Hierarchy

• Does the safety and health manager

have line or staff authority?
– Line authority means the safety &
health manager has authority over and
supervises certain employees.
– Staff authority means safety & health
manager is responsible for a certain
function, but has no line authority over
others involved with that function.
Role in the Company Hierarchy

• Staff positions operate like internal

consultants—they may recommend,
suggest & promote—but do not have
the authority to order or mandate.
– Typically the case with safety &health
managers.
Role in the Company Hierarchy

• Managers with line authority over

safety & health personnel typically
have a staff relationship with other
functional managers.
– Personnel, production, or purchasing.
Role in the Company Hierarchy

• A successful safety & health manager

is resourceful, clever, astute in
corporate politics, good at building
relationships, persuasive, adept at
trading favors, credible, talented in
development & use of influence.
 Problems Safety and Health
Managers Face
• Lack of Commitment - top
management may see safety &
health program as a necessary evil.
– A collection of government regulations
that interfere with profits.
• Safety & health professionals should
be prepared to confront a less than
wholehearted commitment in some
companies.
 Production versus Safety
• Industrial firms are in business to
make a profit by producing or
processing products.
– Anything that interferes with production
or processing is likely to be looked on
unfavorably.
 Production versus Safety
• The modern marketplace sometimes
puts safety & health professional at
odds with others, responsible for
productivity, quality, cost, and
response time.
– A health or safety measure can be
viewed as interfering with productivity.
 Company-Wide Commitment to
Safety and Health
• The most successful safety & health
managers understand goals of
improved productivity, quality, cost,
image, service, and response time.
– And convey the message that a safe,
healthy workplace is the best way to
accomplish these goals.
 Lack of Resources
• Continual improvements can be
achieved and maintained best in a
safe, healthy work environment.
• Competitiveness comes from
continually improving
productivity, quality, cost, image,
service & response time.
FIGURE 4–3 Factors that produce competitiveness.
 Lack of Resources
• Safety & health managers find their
departments rank lower in priority
than production & operations.
– Until a disaster occurs.
• Safety and health managers need to
become proficient in showing the
financial benefits of a safe
workplace.
 Productivity, Quality, Cost, and
Response Time
• The following five points are helpful:
– A safe and healthy workplace will help
attract & keep the best people,
– To get the most out of talented people,
it is important to keep them safe &
healthy, functioning peak performance.
– Employees cannot concentrate fully on
quality when they are concerned for
their safety and health.
 Productivity, Quality, Cost, and
Response Time
• The following five points are helpful:
– Keeping industrial technologies up-to-
date requires the continual investment
of funds.
– With the skyrocketing costs, it costs less
to prevent accidents than pay for them.
 Education/Training for Safety &
Health Managers
• The ideal formula for safety & health
professionals is formal education
prior to entering the profession.
– Supplemented by lifelong in-service
training.
Helpful Agencies and Organizations

• Numerous agencies & organizations

are available to help the safety &
health manager keep up-to-date.
• There are professional societies,
trade associations, scientific
organizations, certification boards,
service organizations, and
emergency service organizations.
FIGURE 4–6 Scientific standards and testing organizations.
 Engineers and Safety
• Engineers can make a contributions to
safety, or cause, inadvertently or by
incompetence, accidents that result in
serious injury & property damage.
– Opportunity for good & bad comes during
design.
• Engineers involved in design are
usually in the aerospace, electrical,
mechanical & nuclear fields.
 Engineers and Safety
• Safety & health professionals should
be familiar with the design process to
more fully understand the role of
engineers concerning workplace
safety.
 Safety Engineer
• The title safety engineer is often a
misnomer, implying the person in
the position is a degreed engineer
with formal education and/or special
training in workplace safety.
 Safety Engineer
• The title is typically given to the
person with overall responsibility for
the company's safety program.
– Or a member of the company's safety
team.
Industrial Engineers and Safety

• Industrial engineers are the most

likely candidates from among the
various engineering disciplines to
work as safety engineers.
– Knowledge of industrial systems can
make them valuable members of a
design team
Industrial Engineers and Safety

• Industrial engineers are the most

likely candidates from among the
various engineering disciplines to
work as safety engineers.
– They can also contribute as a member
of a company's safety team by helping
design job & plant layouts for efficiency
& safety.
Industrial Engineers and Safety

• Industrial engineers are more likely

to work as safety engineers than
those from other disciplines.
– They are not much more likely to have
safety courses as a required part of
their program of study.
Environmental Engineers and Safety

• Environmental engineering is a
relatively new discipline, and may be
described as follows:
– A field in which the application of
engineering & scientific principles is
used to protect and preserve human
health and the well-being of the
environment.
Environmental Engineers and Safety

• Course work environmental

engineers take is particularly
relevant since all of it relates directly
or indirectly to health.
 Industrial Hygienist
• An industrial hygienist is a person
degreed in engineering, chemistry,
physics, medicine, or related
sciences.
– Who, by virtue of special studies and
training, has acquired competence in
industrial hygiene.
 Industrial Hygienist
• Industrial hygienists are primarily
concerned about the following types
of hazards:
– Solvents, particulates, toxic substances.
– Dermatoses, ergonomics, noise,
temperature.
– Radiation, biological substances.
– Ventilation, gas, and vapors.
 Industrial Hygienist
• Special studies/training must have
been sufficient to provide the ability
to:
– Recognize environmental factors and to
understand their effect on humans and
their well-being.
– Evaluate the magnitude of these
stresses in terms of ability to impair
human health and well-being.
 Industrial Hygienist
• Special studies/training must have
been sufficient to provide the ability
to:
– Prescribe methods to eliminate, control,
or reduce such stresses when necessary
to alleviate their effects.
• In a safety and health team, the
industrial hygienist typically reports
to the safety and health manager.
 Health Physicist
• Health physicists are concerned
primarily with radiation in the
workplace.
– Monitoring radiation inside and outside
the facility.
– Measuring the radioactivity levels of
biological samples.
 Health Physicist
• Health physicists are concerned
primarily with radiation in the
workplace.
– Developing the radiation components of
the company's emergency action plan.
– Supervising the decontamination of
workers and the workplace when
necessary.
 Health Physicist
• Nuclear engineering & nuclear
physics are the most widely pursued
fields of study for health physicists.
– Professionals in this field may be
certified by the American Board of
Health Physics (ABHP).
 Occupational Physician
• Occupational medicine as a field
dates to World War II, classified in
1955 as a medical specialty.
• Concerns of the Occupational
Physician include:
– Appraisal, maintenance, restoration and
improvement of worker health.
 Occupational Physician
• Concerns of the Occupational
Physician include:
– Promotion of productive, fulfilling
interaction of worker and job, via
application of principles of human
behavior.
– Active appreciation of social, economic &
administrative needs and responsibilities
of both worker & community.
 Occupational Physician
• Concerns of the Occupational
Physician include:
– Team approach to safety & health,
involving cooperation of the physician
with occupational or industrial
hygienists, occupational health nurses,
safety personnel, and other specialties.
 Occupational Physician
• Occupational physicians are fully
degreed and licensed medical
doctors, and must have completed
postgraduate work in many areas,
including:
– Biostatistics, epidemiology, industrial
toxicology.
– Work physiology, principles of
occupational safety.
 Occupational Physician
• Occupational physicians are fully
degreed and licensed medical
doctors, and must have completed
postgraduate work in many areas,
including:
– Radiation (ionizing and nonionizing),
biological monitoring.
– Ergonomics, noise/hearing conservation.
 Occupational Physician
• Occupational physicians are fully
degreed and licensed medical
doctors, and must have completed
postgraduate work in many areas,
including:
– Fundamentals of industrial hygiene,
occupational aspects of dermatology.
– Record and data collection,
governmental regulations.
 Occupational Physician
• Occupational physicians are fully
degreed and licensed medical
doctors, and must have completed
postgraduate work in many areas,
including:
– General environmental health (air,
water, ground pollution, and waste
management control).
 Occupational Physician
• The OP should be the leader of other
medical personnel.
– There should be a written medical
program available to all management
and employees.
– Periodic tours of all facilities are
necessary for an understanding of
possible work-related injuries.
 Occupational Physician
• The OP should understand the
workplace and the chemicals used &
produced.
– Should be familiar with OSHA & NIOSH
health mandates.
 Occupational Health Nurse
• Occupational health nursing is
application of nursing principles in
conserving health of workers.
 Occupational Health Nurse
• AAOHN defines occupational nurse
objectives:
– To adapt the nursing program to meet
the specific needs of the individual
company.
– To provide competent nursing care for
all employees, or seek competent
medical direction if unavailable on-site.
 Occupational Health Nurse
• AAOHN defines occupational nurse
objectives:
– To establish and maintain an adequate
system of records.
– To plan, prepare, promote, present, and
broker educational activities for
employees.
 Occupational Health Nurse
• AAOHN defines occupational nurse
objectives:
– To establish and maintain positive working
relationships with all departments within
the company.
– To maintain positive working relationships
with all components of the local health
care community.
– Monitor, evaluate & adjust the nursing
program.
 Risk Manager
• Risk management consists of
activities and strategies an
organization can use to protect itself
from situations, circumstances, or
events that may undermine its
security.
– Organizations are at risk every time
they open their doors for business.
 Risk Manager
• Risk managers work closely with
safety and health personnel to
reduce the risk of accidents and
injuries on the job.
– They also work closely with insurance
companies to achieve the most effective
transference possible.
 Professional Certification
• Professional certification is an
excellent way to establish credentials
in the safety, health, and
environmental profession.
– Certified Safety Professional (CSP)
• Awarded by the Board of Certified Safety
Professionals (BCSP)
 Professional Certification
• Professional certification is an
excellent way to establish credentials
in the safety, health, and
environmental profession.
– Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIE)
• Awarded by the American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH)
 Professional Certification
• Professional certification is an
excellent way to establish credentials
in the safety, health, and
environmental profession.
– Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE)
• Awarded by the Board of Certification in
Professional Ergonomics (BCPE)
 Professional Certification
• Professional certification is an
excellent way to establish credentials
in the safety, health, and
environmental profession.
– Certified Occupational Health Nurse
(COHN)
• Awarded by the American Board for
Occupational Health Nurses (ABOHN)
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• To qualify for the Certified Safety
Professional title, applicants must
follow these steps:
– Apply to the BCSP.
– Meet an academic requirement.
– Meet a professional safety experience
requirement.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• To qualify for the Certified Safety
Professional title, applicants must
follow these steps:
– Pass the Safety Fundamentals
Examination.
– Pass the Comprehensive Practice
Examination.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• The model educational background
for a Certified Safety Professional
(CSP) candidate is a bachelor's
degree in safety.
– From a program accredited by the
Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology (ABET).
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• A CSP candidate must meet one of
the following minimum educational
qualifications:
– Associate degree in safety & health, or
Bachelor's degree in any field.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• CSP candidates must have four years
professional safety experience in
addition to any experience used to
meet the academic requirement.
– The professional safety function must be
the primary function of the position.
– Collateral safety duties are not
considered primary function.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• CSP candidates must have four years
professional safety experience in
addition to any experience used to
meet the academic requirement.
– Professional safety function must be at
least 50% of the position duties, full
time (at least 35 hours per week).
– The position must be at the professional
level and have breadth of duties.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• CSP designation involves two
examinations:
– Safety Fundamentals Examination -
covers basic knowledge appropriate to
professional safety practice.
• On passing this examination, candidates
receive Associate Safety Professional (ASP)
title to denote progress toward CSP.
 Certified Safety Professional -
Certification
• CSP designation involves two
examinations:
– All CSP candidates must acquire 96
points and pass the Comprehensive
Practice Examination.
• On passing this examination, candidate
receives the CSP title.
 Certified Industrial Hygienist

• In the mid-1950s, a group of

industrial hygienists from a national
organization recommended that a
voluntary certification program be
established for industrial hygiene
practitioners.
 Certified Industrial Hygienist

• The program has proven a hallmark

of achievement that provides an
indicator of success in the field.
– Measures knowledge of a practicing
industrial hygienist in 16 technical areas
of practice (called rubrics).
 Certified Industrial Hygienist

• The intended purpose of the

examination for Certified Industrial
Hygienist (CIH) is to ensure
professionals in the field have skills
and knowledge needed in the
practice of industrial hygiene.
 Certified Industrial Hygienist -
Certification
• The ABIH has a process established
for reviewing each application and
preparing each examination.
– Each question is evaluated by a group of
practicing CIEs to ensure correctness &
relevance.
– Each item is rated on difficulty for its
target audience, and this is used to set
the passing score for each test.
 Certified Industrial Hygienist -
Certification
• The ABIH has a process established for
reviewing each application and
preparing each examination.
– Each question is also rated by professional
testers to ensure its validity as a question
for an examination.
• The examination itself is the subject of
an effort to ensure that it adheres to
the standardized evaluation method.
 Certified Industrial Hygienist -
Certification
• After a candidate has met the
established standard for certification,
maintenance becomes the issue.
– All CIEs must demonstrate they are
active in the field, and have continued
to improve knowledge.
Certified Professional Ergonomist

• Examination for Certified Professional

Ergonomist (CPE) is administered by
the BCPE to individuals meeting the
following requirements:
– Applicants should have a master's
degree, or equivalent, in one of the
correlative fields of ergonomics
• Biomechanics, human factors/ergonomics,
industrial engineering/hygiene, kinesiology,
psychology, etc..
Certified Professional Ergonomist

• Examination for Certified Professional

Ergonomist (CPE) is administered by
the BCPE to individuals meeting the
following requirements:
– Applicants must have completed at least
four years of ergonomic work
experience.
• Appropriateness is determined from
employment history and participation in
projects requiring ergonomic expertise.
Certified Professional Ergonomist

• Examination for Certified Professional

Ergonomist (CPE) is administered by
the BCPE to individuals meeting the
following requirements:
– One work sample must be submitted,
which demonstrates a breadth of
knowledge and ability to use ergonomic
methods successfully.
CPE – Associate-Level Certification

• The Associate Ergonomics

Professional (AEP) category is a
precursor to the CPE designation.
– Meets the education requirements for
BCPE certification.
– Has passed Part 1 of the examination
(on basic knowledge of human factors
ergonomics)
CPE – Associate-Level Certification

• The Associate Ergonomics

Professional (AEP) category is a
precursor to the CPE designation.
– Is currently working toward fulfilling
BCPE requirement of four years'
practical experience as a human factors
and ergonomics professional.
 CPE – Bachelor's Degree
Certification
• A credential that recognizes a
candidate for the following levels of
knowledge, skills & experience:
– A bachelor's degree from a recognized
university
– At least 200 hours of ergonomics
training
 CPE – Bachelor's Degree
Certification
• A credential that recognizes a
candidate for the following levels of
knowledge, skills & experience:
– At least two full years practicing
ergonomics
– A satisfactory score on the examination
on ergonomics foundations and
ergonomics practice methods
Certified Occupational Health Nurse

• The ABOHN offers several

certifications, all of which require that
individuals first pass either the COHN
or COHN–S certification tests.
– Focus of this credential is the nurse's role
as a clinician, adviser, coordinator, and
case manager.
– Individuals must be registered nurses
holding an associate degree or higher
degree.
Certified Occupational Health Nurse

• The ABOHN offers several

certifications, all of which require
that individuals first pass either the
COHN or COHN–S certification tests.
– Must have 4,000 or more hours of work
experience in occupational health & 50
or more contact hours of continuing
education.
 Emerging Role of Safety
Professionals
• As the world gets flatter, as
organizations get leaner, and as
global competition becomes more
intense, the role of safety
professionals is changing.
 Emerging Role of Safety
Professionals
• The core duty of safety professionals
has not changed, but the skills they
will need to fulfill this duty are
changing.
– Expectations of a safe & healthy
workplace are higher than ever, and
society is more litigious than ever.
 Emerging Role of Safety
Professionals
• Being an expert in a specific safety &
health-related discipline—still
necessary—is no longer sufficient.
– Safety professionals will have to become
transformational leaders in their
organizations.