Safety engineers focus on development and maintenance of the integrated management system. They act as a quality assurance and conformance specialist. Health and safety engineers are responsible for developing and maintaining the safe work systems for employees and others.

Scope of role

The scope of a safety engineer is the development and maintenance of the integrated management system. Safety engineering professionals must have a thorough understanding of legislation, standards and systems. They need to have a fundamental knowledge of

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

contract law A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to ...

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the managem ...

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

labour hire Labour hire is a form of employment in which an employer directs their de jure employees ('labour hire employees', or 'agency workers') to perform work at an external workplace, belonging to a client of the legal employer. In a labour hire arrange ...

plant hire Equipment rental, also called plant hire in some countries (in the UK for instance), is a service industry providing machinery, equipment and tools of all kinds and sizes (from earthmoving to powered access, from power generation to hand-hel ...

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. Professional safety studies include

and

, architectural design of systemss,

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...

ergonomics Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

, system and

process safety Process safety focuses on preventing fires, explosions and chemical accidents in chemical process facilities or other facilities dealing with hazardous materials such as refineries, and oil and gas (onshore and offshore) production installations. ...

system safety The system safety concept calls for a risk management strategy based on identification, analysis of hazards and application of remedial controls using a systems-based approach. This is different from traditional safety strategies which rely on c ...

, safety and health program management, accident investigation and analysis,

product safety Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

construction safety Construction site safety is an aspect of construction-related activities concerned with protecting construction site workers and others from death, injury, disease or other health-related risks. Construction is an often hazardous, predominantly la ...

, education and training methods, measurement of

safety performance Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

human behavior Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity ( mentally, physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Kagan, Jerome, Marc H. Bornstein, and Richard ...

environmental safety and health Environment (E), health (H) and safety (S), EHS is an acronym for the set that studies and implements the practical aspects of protecting the environment and maintaining health and safety at occupation. In simple terms it is what organizations must ...

, and safety, health and

s, regulations and standards. Many safety engineers have backgrounds or advanced study in other disciplines, such as occupational health and safety, construction management and civil engineering, engineering,

system engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information an ...

requirements engineering Requirements engineering (RE) is the process of defining, documenting, and maintaining requirements in the engineering design process. It is a common role in systems engineering and software engineering. The first use of the term ''requirem ...

reliability engineering Reliability engineering is a sub-discipline of systems engineering that emphasizes the ability of equipment to function without failure. Reliability describes the ability of a system or component to function under stated conditions for a specifi ...

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

human factors Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

, operations, education, physical and

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s and other fields. This extends their expertise beyond the basics of health and safety.

Personality and role

They must be personally pleasant, intelligent, and ruthless with themselves and their organisation. In particular, they have to be able to "sell" the failures that they discover to inspectors/ auditors, as well as the attendant expense and time needed to correct them. Often facts can be uncomfortable for the business. Safety engineers have to be ruthless about getting facts right from others, this includes from their fellow managers and engineers. It is common for a safety engineer to consider registers, plant and equipment, training and competency problems in the same day. Often the facts can be very uncomfortable.

Teamwork

Safety engineers work in a team that includes other engineering disciplines, project management, estimators, environmentalist, asset owners, regulators, doctors, auditors and lawyers. Safety works well in a true risk matrix system, in which safety is a managed by the ISO3100 risk management system and integrated into the safety, quality and environment management systems. However, hierarchy of controls may be more suitable for smaller groups of less than 5 workers as it’s easier to digest.

External links and sources

* Trevor Kletz (1998) ''Process Plants: A Handbook for Inherently Safer Design'' CRC * {{cite book, author=Frank Lees, author-link=Frank Lees, title=Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, edition=3rdEdition, publisher=Elsevier, year=2005, isbn=978-0-7506-7555-0
American Society of Safety Engineers
(official website)
Board of Certified Safety Professionals
(official website)
The Safety and Reliability Society
(official website) Safety engineering Engineering occupations

Scope of role

Personality and role

Teamwork

See also

External links and sources