ABSTRACT
Safety research generally addresses a manager’s key role in promoting occupational health and safety (OHS). Managers are responsible for conforming to the OHS regulations, and they have an essential role in implementing the OHS policy and procedures (OHS management) in their area of responsibility. To be able to comply with these requirements, managers need training on OHS issues. The OHS training provides managers with knowledge of their responsibilities and the tools to deal with them. Furthermore, it influences their perceptions and attitudes toward occupational safety.
The objective of this article is to propose an outline for line managers’ OHS training program. The theoretical framework of the paper is based on OHS regulations and appropriate literature. The empirical framework is based on two training programs carried out in two Finnish case organizations.
The experiences and feedback from the two managers’ OHS training programs were positive. The training helped the participants to better outline their duties and gave them tools to emphasize OHS in their area of responsibility. The proposed OHS training program can be used as an outline for the future programs. However, every training program shall be designed in close co-operation with the respective organization based on the managers’ needs and the level of their safety competence.
