Is hands-on experience necessary for a safety professional?

Dave Elniski
Industry Advisor
Safety & Compliance
AMTA

Introduction

The way a person conducts themselves can be impactful in terms of their professional credibility [1].  Credibility is one of those traits so desired in a professional that its importance does not normally require an explanation or sales pitch, and it is occasionally used as a marketing buzz word for professional designations [2].

Credibility often comes up in conversations about safety professionals and hands-on job experience.  Is it necessary for a safety professional to have actually performed the task for which they are creating and enforcing safe work procedures?

I believe that the above question is trying to touch upon credibility, but does not go deep enough.  In my opinion, credibility relies on trust and honesty more than it does on a person’s specific background.  Misrepresentation and dishonesty shatter credibility far faster than the lack of a certain credential or past experience.

I consider hands-on job experience generally beneficial to a safety professional but only if the safety professional is capable of admitting that, back when they were doing the task, they may not have been doing it properly at all times.  They must be willing to consider new best practices and constructive feedback.

Safety professionals who have not actually been in the worker position can also be effective if their purpose is well-communicated to workers and if they are willing to collaborate with workers and promote constructive feedback.  This is a good thing, since it is not possible for one person to completely understand the role of another.  Previous experience starts becoming obsolete the moment the person leaves the role and enters another.

Ability to Collaborate with Workers

Safety professionals need to find ways to collaborate effectively with workers.  This is especially true for those safety people who have no hands-on experience in the specific task.

The reason why I chose the word ability instead of willingness in this section’s heading is because a willing individual may not have the ability to collaborate due to the structure of their role.  If a safety professional’s role offers them little ability to interact with workers, their ability to collaborate is hampered.

Collaboration with workers is important because it gives the safety person the ability to learn about specific tasks and hazards.  Safe work procedures built with worker input are likely to be better accepted than procedures developed with no input, and continual participation from workers leads to a more dynamic and effective safety culture [3].

Stay Within Your Arcs

“Stay within your arcs” is an expression I learned in the army, and it refers to the arcs of fire for a sentry.  Sentries are soldiers tasked with defending an area or their own group of soldiers, and when sentries are assigned to a specific location they are given arcs of fire with physical points of reference (arcs referring to an angular section of a circle) [4].

These arcs are assigned by a superior so that leaders know all areas of potential attack have someone directly watching them.  Once assigned, sentries are required to make sure they only fire upon targets within their specifically-assigned arcs; they trust that the other sentries will adequately defend them from threats arising out of other areas.

In my limited experience with the Canadian Armed Forces, I found that as I gained experience in the duties of a sentry I could offer suggestions with regards to my arcs when they were being assigned by my supervisor.  If my input was useful, accurate, and conveyed tactfully, it was always appreciated.  Units that regularly demonstrated collaboration amongst members were more effective at defending themselves during training exercises.

Staying within your arcs is a metaphorically-useful concept for safety professionals.  What I mean here is that safety staff need to know their areas of expertise and areas where they are weaker.  When they perform their jobs, they need to rely on others to cover off their weaknesses and only act as experts where appropriate.

Safety people lose credibility by pretending to be experts where they are not.  They also lose credibility by misrepresenting their previous experience.  The reason why these actions result in a loss of credibility is because they are examples of dishonesty.

Summary

Safety professionals should not obsess over a self-perceived lack of experience in the work done by the workers they are directing.  Safety professionals rich with hands-on experience must represent themselves accurately and understand that the challenges they experienced are not identical to the challenges faced by workers today.

What is more important than hands-on experience are the abilities to see where one fits within the larger organisation, defer to the expertise of others when appropriate, and remain humble, honest, and willing to learn.

References

1 – “Effects of Mock Facebook Workday Comments on Public Perception of Professional Credibility: A Field Study in Canada,” Journal of Medical Internet Research, accessed June 11, 2021, https://www.jmir.org/2019/4/e12024

2 – “About the CRSP Certification,” Board of Registered Canadian Safety Professionals, accessed June 11, 2021, https://www.bcrsp.ca/prospective-certificants/about-CRSP-certification

3 – “Building A High Participation Safety Culture,” eCompliance, accessed June 11, 2021, http://go.ecompliance.com/rs/066-RPY-433/images/eCompliance%20-%20Building%20A%20High%20Participation%20Safety%20Culture.pdf

4 – “What are the Duties of a Sentry?”, Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute, accessed June 11, 2021, https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com/2019/07/29/what-are-the-duties-of-a-sentry/