Health and Safety Planning - Responsibilities

The starting point for the successful management of health and safety is genuine, continued and demonstrated management commitment. Managers and supervisors must work closely with workers to identify hazards, control risks and ensure safety rules are complied with through positive reinforcement (feedback) and enforcement (performance management and disciplinary processes). It is essential these standards apply to all of the people, all of the time.

Management is accountable for non-compliance with health and safety legislation, however, health and safety is the shared responsibility of management and workers. All health and safety activities are based on specific individual responsibilities, most of which can be found in the relevant health and safety legislation. However, often these duties and responsibilities are not well known or understood. This situation can be improved by including details of specific individual responsibilities in position descriptions.