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112 Introduction to Safety Supervision
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112 Introduction to Safety Supervision

First, Meet Your Own Obligations

It's critical to understand before administering progressive discipline supervisors should first evaluate (make a judgment about) how well they, themselves, have fulfilled their own obligations to employees.

Supervisor and employee looking at equipment
Supervisors must meet their own obligations first.

This is important to make sure they are displaying effective supervision and justified in administering corrective actions.

Determining if discipline is appropriate does not have to be difficult. It can be a simple straightforward process. Again, all that's required is that supervisors ask the following questions and answer honestly to determine if they have met their own obligations:

  1. Supervision: Have I provided adequate safety oversight? I'm not stuck in my office all day. I'm overseeing their work regularly so that I'm able to "catch" unsafe behaviors and hazardous conditions before they cause an injury.
  2. Training: Have I provided (or has the employee received) quality safety training? The employee has the required knowledge and skills to comply. The employee understands the natural and system consequences of noncompliance.
  3. Accountability: Have I applied safety accountability fairly and consistently in the past? The employee knows he or she will be disciplined if caught.
  4. Resources: Have I provided the tools, equipment, PPE, fall protection and other resources to do that job safely? Tools, equipment, machinery, PPE, etc. always in good working order.
  5. Support: Have I provided adequate psychosocial support that promotes working safe?

If supervisors can honestly answer "yes" to each of the above questions, they are demonstrating effective leadership and it may be appropriate to administer discipline because they have first fulfilled their supervisor obligations. However, other safety management system weaknesses may exist that make discipline unjustified. If you cannot honestly answer "yes" to each question, it's probably more appropriate to apologize to the employee for failing to meet one or more obligations, and make a commitment to meet those obligations in the future. That may be hard to do, but it's the right leadership response.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-5. What should supervisors do before administering discipline for unsafe behaviors?

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