All about the occupational safety engineer profession

Occupational safety engineer is an extremely important and responsible profession, highly demanded in the modern market. The safety of employees of the organization, and sometimes the safety of their lives, depends on the professional qualities of such a specialist.

Occupational safety engineer is a responsible person who monitors strict observance of industrial safetyresponsible for fire safety and monitoring the working conditions of all employees of the organization, especially people working in complex mechanisms, and workers in hazardous industries. In this regard, the position of labor protection engineer is especially in demand at enterprises in the light, heavy and food industries, agriculture, as well as at nuclear and thermal power plants, the railway and other facilities equipped with complex mechanisms and special equipment.

In accordance with article 217 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the position of labor protection engineer is introduced in organizations where the number of employees exceeds 50 people. If the number of employees in the organization is less, then the authority of a labor protection specialist often passes to the employer. The advantages of the profession include its high demand in the modern labor market and good wages. Among the minuses noted some bias of the leading link to the activities of labor protection specialists, which, in their subjective opinion, impedes production activities and reduces productivity.

More often, too responsible engineers fall into disfavor with the bosses, who approach safety issues not formally, but in strict accordance with norms and standards. Therefore, applicants for this position must be prepared for constant confrontation and upholding their professional interests and responsibilities.

The main functional duties and tasks of an occupational safety engineer are specified in the job description, which lists the main requirements for a specialist and defines a field of activity under his control, which depends entirely on the profile of the enterprise. Below are the main tasks that the engineer has to solve, as well as a list of his powers and rights.

• Notification of new employees about the features of the production process and working conditions, as well as explanations regarding the risks associated with labor activity, and due compensation in case of force majeure circumstances.
• Regular safety lectures and briefings, as well as explaining to employees the need to comply with these rules in the production process is one of the main functions of a specialist.
• Daily personal control over the use of workwear and personal protective equipment, as well as monitoring the status of these funds and their timely maintenance and replacement.
• Constant monitoring of working conditions at the enterprise and the timely introduction of adjustments and proposals to improve the safety of the production process.
• Prescribing upon detection of violations of the organization of working conditions and control over their elimination. Any deviation from the standard should be clearly recorded and controlled by a specialist until the normalization of the situation.
• Regular certification jobs with drawing up the necessary conclusions and making comments and recommendations.
• Monitoring the passage of employees annual medical examinations and timely response to doctors' recommendations regarding the transfer of the employee to "easy work".
• Development of events for process safety and eliminating the risks of injury in the workplace.
• Constant monitoring of the state of ventilation communications and fire systems, as well as the operability of voice warning systems and the functioning of emergency exits.
• Drawing up, maintaining and submitting the necessary reports, as well as attending seminars and continuing education courses.
• Providing the necessary documentation to law enforcement agencies in case of accidents at the enterprise and participation in determining the amount of compensation payments to victims. In addition, the specialist is obliged to act as a representative of the enterprise when considering labor disputes and lawsuits related to industrial injuries and injuries.
• Moreover, the professional standard of a labor protection specialist according to ECTS provides for a deep knowledge in the field of law and legislation regarding labor protection, as well as a good knowledge of current standards and monitoring the amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition to a large number of duties, the labor protection engineer has rights. So, a specialist has the right to visit the workplaces of employees and production departments of the enterprise without prior agreement, to identify possible violations of working conditions.

In addition, the specialist has the right to request from the management any documentation related to the organization of the work process, as well as documents for equipment. If errors are found in the documentation, the specialist makes an oral comment to the management and monitors the correction of inaccuracies.If during the inspection process violations of safety rules were identified that lead to an increase in the risk of personal injury, the engineer has every right to remove the negligent employee from work, informing the authorities.

The applicant for the position of labor protection engineer must have a specialized vocational education in the specialty “Technosphere safety” or take a retraining course in this area, having a different technical specialty. You can study this profession in educational institutions of a technical orientation, and education can be not only higher, but also secondary professional.

As for the qualifications of a specialist, an occupational safety engineer of category I must have a higher education in this specialty and have to work as an engineer of category II for at least 3 years. Moreover, an engineer of category II must also have a higher education and work in any engineering and technical positions for at least 3 years. Graduates of universities and colleges after graduation are employed as engineers without a category or labor protection technicians without experience requirements.

To become a professional in his field, an applicant for the position of labor protection engineer must have some knowledge and skills. In this profession, one cannot do without organizational abilities, a technical mentality and the ability to achieve goals. In addition, the engineer is required to know the current Labor Code of the Russian Federation and legislative acts relating to labor safety in the workplace, as well as the norms for the organization of labor for women and minors.

One of the most important features of the profession is the moral and material risks to which the specialist is exposed in case of emergency situations that may arise in the workplace. In this case, the person responsible for safety and labor protection and maintaining all the necessary documentation can be brought to disciplinary, administrative, and in more severe cases, to criminal liability.

In addition, in the event of material damage, the engineer may be liable. In this regard, a person who is professionally involved in occupational safety and health should take all possible measures to prevent such situations, since punishment for an emergency at work can result in a fine from 200 thousand rubles to 5 years in prison.

Upon graduation, a labor protection engineer can work in virtually any enterprise with more than 50 employees. It can be any branch of agriculture, transport, enterprises of mining, processing and engineering. If the staff of the organization is small, then employers often use the services of outsourcing firms and attract outside specialists.