Selecting the correct career path is a crucial decision with far-reaching implications. It is a choice that will shape your future, underscoring the importance of making an informed decision.
Over the next few weeks, The African Reporter will engage with business people, professionals, and other role players, focusing on a specific career field every week. Through this, we aim to provide valuable guidance to our younger readers navigating their career choices.
This week we give a platform to the safety and environment manager’s career.
Germiston resident Selephi Themba (53) has been in the safety, health and environment (SHE) field for 19 years and recently started working as a safety and environment manager. She said her career path was not pre-planned.
“As my career developed, I fell into it. I worked in a laboratory for 13 years, including when I was a SHEQ manager (Q in SHEQ relates to quality).
“I remember volunteering to be SHE representative while a laboratory analyst,” she said.
She added the best part about her job is dealing with people and their well-being both physically and psychologically.
She also enjoys facilitating and training, and stated a day is never the same.
What is a safety and environment manager?
The ES manager is the head of a department of the ES department and looks after the health, safety and environment of the operating site.
They are also known as Environment, Health and Safety (ESH) managers or Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) managers.
What does an ES manager do? What are the roles and responsibilities?
The safety and environment manager ensures the safety, environment and legal compliance of a company’s operations, including depots and construction sites, to the South African Regulations.
Safety refers to the health and safety of the employees, contractors, visitors and any stakeholder in the vicinity.
For employee health, we ensure that entrance, surveillance and annual and exit medicals are done for all employees and that they are fit for work.
We also ensure the companies’ activity or processes do not affect the health and safety of the employees adversely.
For example, some processes may utilise chemicals which may be harmful to people, and in that case, we ensure the risks are identified, mitigated, and, where possible, removed. We also ensure the exposed employees have biological and surveillance medical assessments and do a hygiene survey of the workplace.
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For safety, we must ensure that the processes and activities do not result in bodily injuries to stakeholders. We will strive to eliminate the risks, including using personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety shoes, gloves, safety goggles, overalls, and ear protection as the last line of defence when the risk cannot further be mitigated.
If injuries are sustained during the operations, an ES manager will ensure the affected employee receives the required medical treatment and that serious injuries are reported to the relevant government departments.
Similarly, for the environment, we ensure water, air, soil and other natural resources are not impacted negatively by our processes and the operational site is compliant with the regulations.
For both safety and the environment, where there are no regulations, we use the best practices from other countries.
Where can you study? What subjects are required?
There are no specific subjects required at school other than a matric pass. If you want to study for a degree or diploma you need to ensure that you have good enough grades to qualify.
There are very few ES managers who have studied SHE courses only post-matric. There are short courses, certificates, diplomas and degrees for both safety and environment fields that one can study, and these are available from different institutions, including UNISA.
For example, I studied STEM subjects in high school, then I did a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. Over the years, I did certificates in safety management and a host of other short courses.
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What skills/ abilities are required?
• Communication with all internal and external stakeholders
• Coaching and training
• Develop training materials
• People skills
• Report writing
• Understand the regulations relevant to the operations (a subject matter expert)
• Multi-lingual
• Confident
• Can conduct audits.
What are the physical requirements?
There are no particular physical requirements.
Are there bursaries that fund this course?
There are no bursaries for the short courses and certificates. The short courses can range from two to 15 days and the certificates can be completed in a year. Funding for a degree or diploma is as per the course you selected.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the job?
Disadvantages
• When people sustain injuries or fall ill at work.
• People do not follow the procedures meant to protect them and are taking unnecessary risks as these can have serious consequences, including a fatality.
• Can be intense, especially during inspections and audits.
Advantages
• Healthy and happy employees
• When people start understanding why we do what we are doing
• Training and developing people in the safety and environment fields
• Sharing knowledge.
Where do ES managers work?
Most companies have a resource for SHE person, including a safety officer. This includes hospitals, manufacturing plants, construction sites, depots or distribution centres and mining,
What advice would you give to someone who aspires to become a safety and environment manager?
You have to love people as your job requires interactions with all types of people; both in your organisation and externally. The well-being of your people is paramount.
You will also need to be patient, be good at training and be prepared for anything. We interact with government inspectors, site neighbours, communities and auditors.
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