What does a safety supervisor do?
A safety supervisor is responsible for monitoring the overall operations of a production, ensuring the safety and security of everyone, and enforcing strict regulations and protocols. Safety supervisors organize safety orientations and training for the workers, as well as reiterating disciplinary measures and policies and procedures during meetings. They inspect the workplace, including the maintenance of tools and equipment, immediately calling for repair for any defective items found. A safety supervisor also assists with the investigation of workplace hazards to prevent such complications in the future.
Safety supervisor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real safety supervisor resumes:
- Manage financial oversight and budget management including financial modeling and analysis, new products, travel, tools, and scheduling.
- Evaluate and maintain site compliance with all OSHA, EPA, local state, federal, and corporate guidelines.
- Conduct TPM and SMED projects on complex automate equipment.
- Teach and instruct first aid, CPR, a, safety awareness and babysitting.
- Operate machinery - asphalt, laid pipe, operate a sweeper broom, and rollers.
- Ensure compliance to OSHA, NFPA, ANSI, and other local, state and federal regulatory agencies.
- Provide on-site first aid and CPR, coordinate doctor visits, workers compensation claims, and return to work program.
- Conduct inspections for OSHA and NFPA compliance and provide detailed explanations on solutions for non-compliance in the form of standardize reports.
- Conduct air monitoring for confine spaces and excavations.
- Provide EHS technical guidance to project managers and subcontractor superintendents.
- Monitor atmosphere and stability of excavations and confine spaces daily.
- Perform extensive audits for improvements, and participate in EPA negotiation.
- Launch TPM program focusing on partner involvement to gain operational improvements.
- Implement accident reporting, injury investigation, safety awareness training and OSHA compliance programs.
- Project manager responsible for the implementation of several EHS programs including functional management systems approach at multiple sites.
Safety supervisor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Safety Supervisors are proficient in OSHA, Safety Procedures, and Safety Program. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Observational skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Safety Supervisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- OSHA, 12%
Implemented the Voluntary Protection Program, a long-range, systematic corporate safety program toward obtaining OSHA accreditation.
- Safety Procedures, 8%
Key Accomplishments * Conducted successful site inspections by observing workers to determine proper use of prescribed safety equipment and safety procedures.
- Safety Program, 4%
Coordinated employee safety programs to determine their adequacy including review of short and long term strategic safety planning and development.
- Safety Training, 4%
Coordinated safety training programs for employees to continually maintain appropriate levels of awareness, knowledge, and preparedness across the organization.
- Safety Audits, 4%
Maintained relevant safety department documentation, performed safety audits, and delivered job task hazard analysis, and incident investigations
- Patrol, 4%
Patrol the parking lots, external grounds, and the interior facility and securing entrances and other designated areas after hours.
"osha," "safety procedures," and "safety program" are among the most common skills that safety supervisors use at work. You can find even more safety supervisor responsibilities below, including:
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a safety supervisor to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "health and safety engineers produce designs showing potential problems and remedies for them." Safety supervisors often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "maintained a running inventory of location and availability of all safety equipment. "
Observational skills. Another essential skill to perform safety supervisor duties is observational skills. Safety supervisors responsibilities require that "health and safety engineers must observe and learn how operations function so that they can identify risks to people and property." Safety supervisors also use observational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "monitor associate worker knowledge of safety compliance through observational behavior auditing and provide feedback to workers after observations. "
Communication skills. safety supervisors are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to safety supervisor responsibilities, because "health and safety engineers must be able to interpret federal and state regulations and their intent so that they can propose proper designs for specific work environments." A safety supervisor resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "improved safety communication with working employees strengthening the safety culture. "
Problem-solving skills. For certain safety supervisor responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a safety supervisor rely on this skill, as "in designing solutions for entire organizational operations, health and safety engineers must take into account processes from more than one system at the same time." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what safety supervisors do: "employed through industrial safety solutions, inc., contracted out to glenn machine works as the construction site safety supervisor. "
The three companies that hire the most safety supervisors are:
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Compare different safety supervisors
Safety supervisor vs. Industrial hygienist
An Industrial Hygienist plans and conducts health programs to educate employees about cleanliness, safety, and sanitation in the workplace. They investigate adequacy of ventilation, exhaust equipment, lighting, and other conditions that can affect employees' health, comfort, or efficiency.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, safety supervisor responsibilities require skills like "safety procedures," "patrol," "safety regulations," and "site safety." Meanwhile a typical industrial hygienist has skills in areas such as "environmental health," "indoor air quality," "ventilation," and "occupational health hazards." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Industrial hygienists tend to make the most money working in the energy industry, where they earn an average salary of $93,692. In contrast, safety supervisors make the biggest average salary, $76,175, in the energy industry.The education levels that industrial hygienists earn slightly differ from safety supervisors. In particular, industrial hygienists are 10.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a safety supervisor. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Safety supervisor vs. Manager, environmental and safety
An Environmental and Safety manager is responsible for overseeing environmental sustainability concerning production and manufacturing processes and mitigating nature's hazardous effects. Environmental and Safety managers evaluate the methods and resources used to produce and eliminate procedures that violate safety laws and internal regulations. They also facilitate training and programs for the employees to ensure adherence to protocols and prevent accidents during operations. An Environmental and Safety Manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in reviewing incident reports and conducting root-cause analysis to avoid reoccurrence.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real safety supervisor resumes. While safety supervisor responsibilities can utilize skills like "patrol," "site safety," "incident reports," and "safety equipment," managers, environmental and safety use skills like "environmental health," "environmental compliance," "continuous improvement," and "regulatory agencies."
On average, managers, environmental and safety earn a higher salary than safety supervisors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, managers, environmental and safety earn the most pay in the construction industry with an average salary of $85,529. Whereas safety supervisors have higher pay in the energy industry, with an average salary of $76,175.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Managers, environmental and safety tend to reach higher levels of education than safety supervisors. In fact, they're 8.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for safety supervisors in the next 3-5 years?
Linsay Hale
Professional Standards Director/Interim Training Division Director, IADLEST Member - International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training
Safety supervisor vs. Ehs manager
An environmental health & safety (EHS) manager is in charge of developing and implementing safety programs for a company's workforce and work environment. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting regular inspections to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations, devising preventive measures, spearheading training and seminars, and investigating workplace accidents and identify causes to ensure that it would not happen again. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team to reach goals, all while implementing every policy and safety regulation of the company.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a safety supervisor is likely to be skilled in "osha," "patrol," "site safety," and "cpr," while a typical ehs manager is skilled in "environmental health," "continuous improvement," "local regulations," and "oversight."
Ehs managers earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $96,976. Safety supervisors earn the highest pay from the energy industry, with an average salary of $76,175.Most ehs managers achieve a higher degree level compared to safety supervisors. For example, they're 10.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Safety supervisor vs. Environmental health safety manager
An Environmental Health Safety Manager supervises the compliance of an organization with environmental legislations regarding safety in the workplace. They are responsible for applying state and federal environmental policies.
Types of safety supervisor
Updated January 8, 2025
