ASSE Position Statements - Management and the Responsibilities of the Safety Professional

ASSE Position Statements

Management and the Responsibilities of the Safety Professional

Adopted Febuary 1993 | Updated June 2005

Safety and health professionals have wide ranging responsibilities in performing their professional functions, the major elements of which are identified in a paper entitled "The Scope of Functions of the Safety Professional," which is available from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). Safety and health professionals must remain technically current in loss prevention techniques, as well as legislative and regulatory requirements and safety and heath consensus standards. Functional activities of safety and health professionals include both risk assessment and control of hazards.

A central concept of the safety and health profession is that management remains responsible for implementation of safety and health measures to control losses. Safety and health professionals serve in an advisory capacity to the organization and provide guidance and technical expertise, within the parameters of the professions' ethics, to assist in meeting these responsibilities.

Accordingly, the following are the principal responsibilities for the safety and health professional:

  • Assist corporate and line management in assessing the effectiveness of the unit safety and health programs and providing recommendations for maintaining/improving their effectiveness;
  • Provide guidance to line management and employees so that they understand the safety and health programs and how to implement them;
  • Assist line management with the identification and evaluation of high risk hazards and development of measures for their control;
  • Provide staff safety and health engineering services;
  • Maintain a working knowledge and maintain federal, state and local relationships with appropriate regulatory agencies;
  • Develop and maintain a high level of professional competence in the safety and health field;
  • Represent the organization in safety and health interests outside their operations within the community and by active participation in professional societies and specific trade associations and groups.

Management and the Responsibility of the Safety Professional

Approved 2/26/93 by the ASSE Board of Directors
Updated 6/11/05 by ASSE Government Affairs Committee

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