Posted By Tony Lam Any idea about the pros & cons of safety personnel work under human resource department and safety staff work under line management.

Posted By Tony Lam Hi Alec, Thanks for your response. I have some questions in respect to the development, implementation and maintenance of the safety management system while a safety personnel worked under HR or line management, is there any advantage and difficulty? And if the safety personnel is worked under top mangement, is it a sound arrangement for safety management system and what is the advantage?

Posted By Alec Wood The chief advantage is that dotted line mentioned by Merv above. Something you just don't get if your under line management. I report direct to the HR director and my dotted line goes to wherever else I need it to. As I've already said, line management can (and do) lean on you a bit from time to time. This can lead to distortion of inconvenient areas of any developing safety system. The degree of autonomy offered by working under the HR umbrella has, in my experience, allowed me to be stronger, take stronger action and devlop better more robust systems. My time spent working under line management helps me temper the above with a large spoonfull of reality so me and our systems are practical and implementable and I am not viewed as a meddling ivory tower occupant.

Posted By Alec Wood Hi Tony Contruction may be a different case, in my submissions to the forums I comment on my own experience only, which is in a manufacturing environment. In this environment, the directives from senior management are for a strong health & safety policy implementation, and for efficient high volume production. HR as a department have performance targets set on the implementation and support of all company policies including health & safety, and it is therefore easier to get support in its implementation in this environment, as well as being easier to secure resources. Also, senior management seem more integrated with this department, and easier to approach, communicate with and seek the support of if necessary, partly because they share the same office space as HR. On the shop floor they seemed much more remote, and I had generally less contact with them and so I was less likely to seek their support. In the line management environment, production in my case, the key performance indicators (KPI) are production efficiency, volumes and quality, which determine operating profit. As such, line managers find their emphasis is naturally more on these issues, and may see any diversion of focus or resources as threatening to acheivement of their department KPI. It would be wrong to insinuate that they are not safety focussed, it's just that the hour-by-hour issues they face are volume/efficiency/quality, with safety probably accounting for 10% or less of their working time. I have also found my company's line management more receptive of my input now that I am not in their department, since they no longer think that I should be equally focussed on output volumes as the department's main KPI. I wouldn't be without my time spent under line management though, because it has allowed me to develop the just the kind of working relationships which you highlighted in your last posting. Practical knowledge is something that can be gained in a number of ways, but it is vital. Not only does it make you develop procedures more practical in their nature and realistic implementation plans, but it helps gain support for your input from the guys on the ground. Under HR management, these relationships must still be formed, but how you go about it would be different. In summary I would say that their are pros and cons on both sides. In my experience HR has been a better, more productive working environment, but I can see how line management may be better in some other organisations or situations. I guess there is no general rule for which is better in all cases. As ever, this is just my humble opinion.......... Alec Wood Samsung Electronics Mfg UK Ltd