Question

he placement of the industrial hygiene and safety functions in an organization's structure can greatly impact how successful the programs will be. Some organizations place health and safety programs under the human resources department. Other organizations place these programs under the plant manager or the production manager. If you were a safety officer for an organization, where would you place health and safety programs in the organizational structure? Explain why you believe this placement would work best for your organization.

Answer 1

The placement of the industrial hygiene and safety functions in an organization's structure can greatly impact how successful the programs will be. Some organizations place health and safety programs under the human resources department. Other organizations place these programs under the plant manager or the production manager. This decision is very important and should be considered carefully before being made. I have worked in two separate companies that set this structure opposite. One set this organization up as a separate structure and the other was set to report to the manger. Operations and EH&S must be organized in a completely separate reporting structure. When doing this it helps to keep the operational side of the organization honest. This removes the influence of the manager on the EH&S functions. The EH&S functions should work hand in hand with their operational counterparts.   When the structure is setup in this manner it ensures that IH and safety are allowed to conduct their job without reprisals from the operations side of the organization. This also helps the operations of the company to get honest feedback from the EH&S side of the company. If both sides are organized independently they are forced to work closer together to accomplish the same goal.