Industrial safety management: an emerging career

Taking protective measures has turned into a significant and essential part of one’s life; at residence, street or workplace. Rising number of accidents at workplaces, particularly in the industrial sector, led the government to pass and apply various Acts and Rules for the protection of workers.

As per the standard rules, it is mandatory for every industrial organisation to employ a safety officer. This has made safety management a foremost career option in India and abroad alike.

Safety management or industrial safety is a section of management which deals with the study of the possibilities of any mishap or danger, correlated to the health of workers or equipment, chemicals or machines in an industry. The objective of an industrial safety manager is to reduce the chance of risks, accidents and harms by the accomplishment of diverse proficiencies of risk and safety management. Safety management experts build up and execute various precautionary actions to uphold safe work environments.

As per the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), persons with technology skills and knowledge of business exercises may have better career prospects than those with less understanding. As the government and corporations are integrating more technology into their workplaces, the call for information safety experts will steadily grow in the years to come. The BLS has anticipated that information security analysts, with information security managers, would witness an 18% increase in employment from 2014 to 2024.

Role and responsibilities

The main responsibility of a safety manager is to protect the company and workers from common workplace hazards. This may comprise safeguarding from damage caused due to natural and chemical agents, and from mishaps caused by serious metals or electric hazard, by assuring that the workers be dressed in facemasks, safety glasses and protective clothing at the workplace.

The responsibilities of safety manager comprise preparation and growth of workers in safety practices, judgment of requirement of safety procedures, regular testing and monitoring of working environs, safety examinations, organising special training in case of new equipment and measures and enhancement of security programmes. A security manager has to make employees aware about the do’s and don’ts in the place of work.
Essential skills and aptitude that are expected of a safety manager are:

Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills
Surveillance and reporting skills
Capability to stay quiet in emergencies
Safety awareness
Crisis-solving and decision-making aptitude
Good managerial and time management skills
Capability to work separately and in a team

Job opportunities

Safety management presents an accountable, challenging and thrilling career in both private and public sectors with a rising demand for professionals in this field in India and abroad.

The government is also rigorously bringing out rules for to workers safety in organisation. Thus, as per the Security Act, it is obligatory to appoint a safety officer in every industrial organisation. This has spread out new panorama for skilled manpower requirement in the area of Fire & Industrial Safety Management.

An individual opting for a career in this  particular area has ample career prospects. Some of them are safety supervisor, environment safety manager, safety instructor, safety officer, risk management consultant, industrial hygienist and safety auditor. It is a job with high rank and pride.

A safety officer is an extremely appreciated person. An Experienced hand can get jobs in industries of paramilitary, manufacturing, construction, transportation, government, consulting and aviation.

Courses and eligibility

Industrial safety management course is one of the most relevant courses in the present world of enormous industrial enterprise and ignorance of some key issues. It’s a morally pleasing and significantly hopeful career as it accommodates humanity at large.

An applicant eager to take up this course is supposed to have a graduate or postgraduate degree in Engineering. Holding industrial work experience is an additional benefit for admission. Many institutes also offer short-term courses in industrial safety management to middle and senior level experts in different parts of the country.

Safety management is one of the high-paid jobs in India. Salary for safety professionals differs by organisations and candidate experience level. Individuals who are employed in more risky industrial organisations like oil and gas removal companies, chemical producing companies, earn much high salary in comparison with others.

(The author is founder director, CEDP Skill Institute, Mumbai)