What does a health and safety manager do?

Understanding what a health and safety manager does depends on a number of factors; for example, day-to-day tasks will vary depending on the industry they work in, the size of the company they work for and which topics they specify in.

Health and safety managers’ roles and responsibilities can include, but are not limited to:

• Monitoring health and safety risks and hazards in the workplace
• Advising employees on how to minimise or ultimately avoid risks and hazards in the workplace
• First aid / nursing duties
• Ensuring the business is legally compliant with all health and safety legislation
• Working with and training all employees to manage, monitor and improve the health and safety standards in the workplace
• Being responsible for all safety inspections in the workplace (for example, monitoring noise levels in a warehouse)
• Assisting with the creation and management of health and safety monitoring systems and policies in the workplace
• Managing emergency procedures (such as fire alarm drills) and organising emergency teams such as fire marshals and first aiders
• Offering general health and safety advice to all employees

The degree of responsibility of a health and safety manager ultimately depends on the industry or environment they work in. For example, duties as a health and safety manager on a construction site will vary to that of a health and safety manager in an office block. However, the core responsibilities of all health and safety professionals are similar.