Undertaking Security Projects: The Value of External Managers

The field of health and safety at work is becoming increasingly complex and several sub-fields, which are often highly technical, are starting to appear or to evolve. Machine safety is a prime example of these sub-fields.

Most of the major changes that machine safety has undergone comes from the fact that safety can and should be done by considering operational constraints, maintaining, and improving productivity. In other words, the method of “hazardous areas hunting” and the massive installation of guards and other protective measures, without any consideration of the raison d’être of the company, generally, production, no longer has its place in today’s world. A “safety or production” dilemma should not be early on in any securing process.

In order for machine safety projects to be carried out in the logic previously described, several profiles must collaborate to carry them out. This requires at least one professional who has a vision and analytical understanding of the production processes in the company (e.g., industrial engineer, process analysis, etc.).

The presence of a specialized occupational health and safety professional and who has a perfect understanding of the legal side of things is also necessary to be able to validate the conformity and/or the level of safety of equipment and processes. This person must also have the necessary skills to identify and use the standards applicable to each situation and be able to find technical solutions on this basis. These skills are usually held by engineers, and since it is rare to find such profiles, it means that the normative and design aspect will usually be handled by a third professional.

Up to now, we have talked about the minimum profiles needed to properly manage a machine safety project. However, we must also add to this the communication aspect between these stakeholders; it is often one of the most difficult parts to manage in this type of project and directly affects the quality of the results obtained at the end.

Another aspect that should not be overlooked by a company is the usefulness of these profiles in addition to the context of a machine safety project, which can generate unnecessary costs for the company.

The aforementioned difficulties are the first obstacles, and often a reason for abandoning the machine securing project. This is why a solation that can address all these aspects at once must be found before moving forward in the process. One of these solutions, and perhaps the most efficient, is the safety project manager profile. They are both able to understand the constraints imposed by the reality of each company while also possessing the required technical skills. The safety project manager has the analytical capacity to find solutions adapted to these realities, which comply with both standards and regulations in force. In addition, it will be a source of load only during the duration of the project.

This profile being in control of the different aspects of a safety project will also be able to cushion the negative effect of poor communication during the project by ensuring coordination between the multiple parties involved, such as subcontractors, workers, representatives, management, etc.

Communication and coordination provided by the project manager will be more effective thanks to the oneness of the message and priorities since they are communicated by a single person.