Is it smarter to have a dedicated safety manager on every site or just train the foreman to handle it? I keep seeing crews try to save money by skipping safety oversight

I've been on two jobs in Charlotte this year where the foreman was in charge of safety and both had near misses that could have been avoided with a dedicated person watching the big picture. The debate is whether that extra $60k salary is worth it or if proper training is enough what have you guys found works better?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinl904d ago

Man I feel you on this. We had a foreman in Raleigh last spring who was supposed to be keeping an eye on safety while running the crew and he missed a loose scaffold plank that almost sent one of my guys down two stories. It happened so fast. I think a dedicated safety person is worth every penny if you can afford it. Foremen already have enough on their plate with production and quality, adding safety oversight on top is just asking for trouble. The near misses I've seen always happen when someone is splitting their attention.

shah.evan4d ago

Are we really acting like almost dropping two stories is the same as actually falling? I've seen plenty of near misses that sound scary in the telling but nobody got a scratch. Foremen are supposed to be the ones running the show, including safety, and if they can't handle both then maybe they shouldn't be a foreman. Having a dedicated safety person sounds nice but most crews I've worked with just end up with someone standing around getting in the way and slowing everything down. Plus that's another salary you're paying for something that should be part of the job already. I get that safety matters but sometimes people get way too dramatic about what's basically a close call that only happened because someone wasn't paying attention.