SSHO: Collateral Duties and Inexperience

Collateral Duty

There is a reason why Site Safety and Health Officers (SSHO) are not to be doing physical work or doing collateral duties at the job site.  So there is no question of Conflict of Interest between production and safety.  It's really simple.  But we all know why you catch SSHO's wearing two hats.  It's because someone in the company decided that they can save money to have one person work two positions.  Now those two positions are either as a Superintendent or Quality Control Manager.  Now a Superintendent maybe a QC and vice versa.  But never a Superintendent and a SSHO. 

When a SSHO works a craft to help catchup production or to even help a worker out.  That SSHO puts himself and the rest of the crew in jeopardy.  What happens if the SSHO while working a physical task gets hurt?  He's out for days due to an injury that occurred doing physical activity.  That job stops until that SSHO returns to work or the company finds a replacement SSHO that meets the same credentials as the primary SSHO on that job.

When a SSHO wears two hats on the job site.  A conflict of interest will arise between production and safety.  A SSHO/Superintendent will sacrifice safety in order to meet deadlines.  It has happened before. There's a reason why the federal government wants the two positions separated.  I, myself, am currently seeing this happen with a SSHO that I know, working as a Superintendent/SSHO.

Yes, a SSHO may help to lend a hand.  But not help to keep production going.


Inexperience

We all have to start some where.  And, usually that somewhere is at the bottom of the ladder.  That's in every industry that you can possible work in, in the USA.  With that said, You can't expect to go to "SAFETY SCHOOL"  to become a Site Safety and Health Officer.  Construction Companies, Federal Agencies, or Military departments have their own requirements to become a SSHO with them. 

How can you identify a safety hazard, if you don't know what to look for? 

I'm not perfect, but I have kept my crew safe because I knew what to look for and how to correct the issue before someone gets hurt.