Tappura AHFE 2012 conference presentation

1. 4th International Conference on
Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics 2012
The Occupational Health and Safety Training
Outline for the Managers
Sari Tappura
Center for Safety Management and Engineering
Industrial Management
Tampere University of Technology
sari.tappura (at) tut.fi
Päivi Hämäläinen
VTT Finnish Technical Research Center

2. Resume
– Introduction
– Background of two cases
– Objectives
– Methods
– Results
– Issues to be emphasized
– Weaknesses in management practices
– Feedback
– Contents of the outline
– Experiences
– Discussion

3. Introduction
• Safety research addresses managers’ role in promoting
occupational health and safety (OHS)
• Managers have the capacity and power to make decisions about
safety investments and can influence a workplace’s safety
culture
• Safety awareness, competence and commitment of managers
are important factors for achieving positive results
• Safety training
• provides managers with competence and tools for safety
management,
• provides managers with knowledge of their responsibilities,
• provides managers with knowledge of the company-wide OHS-
policy and procedures, and
• influences managers’ perceptions and attitudes toward safety.

4. Background of two cases
1. Large Finnish manufacturing company
- Safety problems and non-unified safety processes existed
- A safety development program was launched
- Safety training was a part of the program
- 19 line managers representing different departments
2. A part of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program
- Eight line managers from different organizations, sectors and
responsibility areas
- Voluntary participation

5. Objectives
• To present the OHS competence areas of the managers
• To propose an outline for management OHS training programs
– The theoretical frame is based on the OHS regulations and
appropriate literature.
– The empirical frame is based on two training programs
carried out in two case organizations.

6. Methods
1. The preliminary contents of the OHS training program was
designed based on the OHS regulations and literature
• Managers’ safety responsibilities
2. The contents was developed in collaboration with the case
company, and the line managers’ OHS training was carried out
3. The contents was further developed based on the experiences
and feedback of the training, and the second training was
carried out as a part of a general MBA-program
4. The proposed outline is based on the OHS regulations,
literature and these two training sessions.

7. Issues to be emhasized
- Management commitment to OHS
- Unified OHS procedures and clear goals
- Good OHS competence
- Training and motivation of managers
- Effective safety-performance measurement and control
- Open communication concerning OHS issues

8. Weaknesses in management practices
- Competing priorities, safety issues were often ignored
- Managers did not know the safety procedures and their
own safety responsibilities, and were thus unsure about
their safety authority
- Managers were unsure about wether and how they should
interfere with employees’ intentional and continual safety
misconduct

9. Feedback
- The feedback from the training was positive
- The managers got an overview of their OHS responsibilities
- They got tools to emphasize and promote OHS in their area of
responsibility
- The training helped them to better outline their duties and to
commit themselves to the unified safety practices of the
company and to further develop them
- Peer communication during the training was seen very important
- They liked the way the training was arranged, including the
discussions, group works, interactive lectures and company-
specific cases
- However, they felt they needed even more information about
legal aspects and a more practical approach to the safety issues.

10. An outline for the managers’ OHS
training
1. OHS regulations and their mandatory requirements
2. Managers’ role, responsibilities and authority to intervene violations of
OHS
3. Motivation and justification of OHS from economic and ethical
perspectives
4. OHS policy, goals, programs, and procedures of the organization
5. Continuous monitoring and improvement procedures of the working
environment, the work community, and work practices
6. Hazard identification, risk assessment, and information sharing to
prevent risks from being actualized
7. OHS orientation and training
8. Occupational injuries and near-miss reporting, investigation, and
subsequent learning
9. Work-related health problems in working community and
psychosocial work environment
10. Safety performance measurement and reporting
11. Corrective actions control
12. OHS communication (meetings, inspection rounds and discussions)
13. OHS cooperation, supporting organizations and specialists

11. Experiences
- Legal responsibilities of the managers should be
emphasized
- Interference of misconduct should be advised
- Understanding the economic aspects of safety should be
improved
- Open communication should be encouraged
- Peer communication and support should be increased
- Training should support collective learning
- Management and leadership skills should also be
improved
- Employees’ safety training is also needed to motivate and
inspire them to change their behavior

12. Discussion
• The training helped the participants to better outline their duties
and gave them tools to emphasize OHS in their area of
responsibility
• The experiences and feedback from the two OHS training were
positive and the proposed OHS training program can be used as
an outline for the future programs
• Emphasis on the OHS issues depends strongly on the current
competence of the managers and the organisation’s level of
safety.
• Future research is needed
• To find out the challenging OHS assignments of the managers
and to help them to manage them
• To point out the gap between required and actual OHS
competence of the managers
• Procedures and tools to develop OHS competence

13. Reference
• Tappura, S. & Hämäläinen, P. The Occupational Health and
Safety Training Outline for the Managers. In: Vink, P. (ed.) 2012.
Advances in Social and Organizational Factors. Advances in
Human Factors and Ergonomics Series, Vol. 9. Taylor and
Francis, CRC Press. Chapter 38, pp. 356-365.