What Does a Site Safety Manager Do?

A site safety manager is responsible for establishing and maintaining a safe work area. Whether the job site is large or small or outdoors or indoors, this type of manager must keep the area in compliance with all laws, standards and regulations pertaining to employee and public safety. He or she must be accountable for all aspects of safety including equipment checks, fire precautions, accident prevention, first aid preparedness and training techniques.

Holding training sessions or meetings is a common task that many site safety managers do regularly with their team. A site safety manager may instruct workers on the safe use of job site equipment as well as go over evacuation plans in case of a fire or other emergency. Having properly stocked first aid kits easily accessible is often required of safety managers.

Site safety managers must plan for accident prevention by first analyzing work equipment and systems. They must then create a safe work site set-up or organization that accounts for every worker's job tasks. Any item or work area that is not as safe as it could or should be must be corrected by the site safety manager. If a workplace accident does occur, it's typically up to this manager to make an insurance claim, if applicable, as well as create a detailed report about the incident.

Record keeping is often a large part of a site safety manager's job. He or she may have to document his or her training or safety meetings as far as what topics were covered as well as which employees attended. Keeping track of fire drill dates and scheduled equipment safety checks are other types of records these managers may need to maintain. Safety managers may be required to routinely show various records to government inspectors as proof of compliance with laws or regulations.

Site safety managers may have to attend meetings outside his or her company such as those held by a standards association in the company's industry. In this way, a site safety manager is often made aware of new regulations or requirements for a safe workplace. When new workers are placed at a job site, the safety manager is responsible for their orientation in safe methods and ensuring that they understand how to use all equipment safely and efficiently. While efficiency and production are often factored in to this manager's training methods, he or she must always focus on safe site practices.