What Are the Responsibilities of a Safety Manager?

Facility Manager, Project Manager, Operations Manager … For several years now, many professions—especially in management—have been given English names. While that may sound stylish, it unfortunately does not always make it easier to understand what is actually behind them. 

This also applies to the job profile of a “Safety Manager”. What exactly is a “safety manager”? And, even more importantly: What does he or she do? 

That is exactly what we want to take a closer look at in the following article. We have already discussed the importance of occupational safety in several previous blog posts, but left out one important factor: the Safety Manager. 

What Is a Safety Manager?

Before we address the question of what a Safety Manager's responsibilities are, we first want to clarify what a Safety Manager actually is. You will see that the responsibilities of this position follow naturally from this.

A Safety Manager develops strategies and procedures to ensure the safety of employees in a company. They often lead a team of occupational safety specialists to ensure that all required standards and safety requirements are implemented and complied with throughout the company. They are also the main point of contact for all matters concerning health and safety. 

This is why the Safety Manager is often also called a “Health and Safety Manager” or even a “Health, Safety and Environment Manager” (HSE Manager) when environmental protection is also included. This may be necessary in industrial businesses, for example in factories. 

A “Functional Safety Manager” is responsible for technical occupational safety. Among other things, this type of manager carries out hazard analyses or risk assessments.

What Are the Responsibilities of a Safety Manager? 

As the name suggests, the primary responsibility of a Safety Manager is to guarantee the safety of a company's employees. 

To ensure this, the following tasks may be required:

• Plan, implement, monitor and optimise operational processes in all areas relating to occupational safety and health protection 
• Develop and maintain integrated management systems, especially with regard to occupational safety 
• Advise company management, as well as other managers and employees, on occupational safety and health protection matters
• Organise and deliver training in the areas of occupational safety and health protection 
• Carry out hazard analyses and risk assessments and introduce the relevant measures 
• Plan and carry out internal audits to ensure compliance with standards 
• Coordinate communication and cooperation with the relevant authorities 
• Possibly even inspect and advise other companies 

As you can see, the role of the Safety Manager is a comprehensive one. Not only must they be familiar with occupational safety and health protection requirements, but they must also have knowledge of management and the company's particular sector.

Legal Foundations for the Safety Manager 

To make the Safety Manager's job somewhat easier—and therefore more successful—the ISO standard 45001:2018, formerly ISO 18001-2007, was introduced. 

Under the new standard, occupational health and safety management, in other words our Safety Manager, is intended to prevent accidents and illnesses in the workplace. Above all, this is meant to minimise absences and the resulting costs for the company. 

The ISO standard focuses on three areas: management commitment, employee participation and risk control. The idea behind it is to ensure that occupational health and safety laws are better observed and that appropriate occupational safety systems are implemented in businesses. 

In addition to ISO standard 45001:2018, laws must of course also be observed, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which we already discussed in our blog post “How Often Must an Employer Provide Safety Shoes?”.

Safety Managers and Choosing Work Shoes 

Hazard analysis and risk assessment are among the responsibilities of every Safety Manager. They analyse the various workplaces within a business and define the sources of hazards. For a supermarket, for example, potential hazards may include falling objects, slipping, chemical cleaning products, poor posture caused by standing for long periods, cuts, etc. 

An indispensable part of occupational safety is the appropriate personal protective equipment, as stipulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act mentioned above. In this area, the Safety Manager's task is to determine the necessary personal protective equipment following a detailed risk assessment, including work or safety shoes. 

Fortunately, there are also models that help carry out a high-quality analysis and then select the right protective equipment. One example is DGUV Rule 112-991 from the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). In addition to all important requirements for foot and knee protection, this document also contains practical checklists for hazard analyses, safety shoe requirements and more. 

Once the Safety Manager has carried out the hazard analysis based on the DGUV Rule, they can read our blog posts to find out which work or safety shoe is most suitable. For example, in “The New EN ISO 20344:2021 vs. EN ISO 20344:2011: The Differences”, you can find many interesting details on safety shoes, while “Which Safety Shoe for Which Profession?” presents specific safety shoes. 

Otherwise, we at Shoes For Crews are happy to help you and/or your Safety Manager implement a company work shoe initiative. We know that implementing all measures related to occupational safety and health protection can be a real challenge. Join forces with our experts here at Shoes For Crews and let us reduce workplace accidents to a minimum!