12/02/2009

The line is often blurred between safety and HR. In order to prevent safety issues that bridge the gap from being mishandled or falling through the cracks, it's important to ensure that responsibility is clearly defined and assigned. Here are some areas to watch out for:

A basic understanding of the many facets of risk in business organizations is crucial for safety, risk management, and HR professionals. Join us on December 14 for a webinar on how to address strategic, operational, human capital, financial, and regulatory risks in organizations, as well as how to develop effective strategies for mitigating, controlling, and/or transferring these risks.

Register Now »

Learn More »

• Return-to-work programs: Return-to-work programs involve both safety (the incident that caused the injury and the physical work that will be done by the injured worker) and HR (complying with the Family and Medical Leave Act, the American with Disabilities Act, and other leave laws). Because of the large overlap between HR and safety when it comes to return-to-work programs and the risk of significant penalties for violations of leave-related laws, it's important that the two disciplines work closely together to ensure that cases are handled properly.


• Disciplinary action: Disciplinary action is a necessary tool for ensuring that safety policies and procedures are followed. HR should discuss with supervisors safety program enforcement and how the disciplinary policy is utilized when employees violate safety policies.


• Recordkeeping: Often, because safety records require a level of confidentiality similar to HR files (such as medical exposure files or workers' compensation case files), it makes sense for HR to maintain them. Be sure that HR understands the applicable retention requirements, such as the length of time that exposure records must be maintained.


• Employee complaints: If HR serves as a repository for employee complaints, employee-generated safety issues may end up there rather than with a supervisor or the person responsible for safety compliance. This could delay the correction of the issue. Safety and HR must work together to ensure that critical safety issues are identified and addressed in a timely fashion.


• Workplace security: Workplace security often encompasses issues like bullying and workplace violence, which, like return-to-work programs, involve a great deal of overlap between HR and safety.


• Policy implementation: When implementing safety policies, it's a good idea to have not only management and supervisors review the policy, but also HR.

Improving Performance Where Safety and HR Collide

A basic understanding of the many facets of risk in business organizations is crucial for safety, risk management, and HR professionals. These three disciplines often intersect and increasingly fall under the direction of one single person or department.

However, everyone in the enterprise needs to understand their role in identifying, controlling, and mitigating risks as part of an overall business strategy.

Is risk being properly identified and managed in each functional area of your organization? Does the organization understand that risk in one area of the enterprise often increases risks in other areas?

Join us on December 14 for an overview of how to address strategic, operational, human capital, financial, and regulatory risks in organizations, as well as how to develop effective strategies for mitigating, controlling and/or transferring these risks. Gain an understanding of the relationship between risk management, HR and safety management within an enterprise risk management framework.

You'll learn:

• How to describe a variety of strategic, operational, human capital, financial, and regulatory related risk issues faced by organizations


• How to devise an organizational analysis to assess strategic, operational, human capital, financial, and regulatory related risks


• How to describe enterprise risk management and its application to business enterprises


• The various roles organization members play in addressing risk in the workplace


• How legal counsel, insurance brokers, risk managers, HR, safety managers, CFOs, CEOs, and other management-level personnel interact in the risk management process


• Global risk issues faced by organizations

Register Now »

Learn More »