Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/351662
22 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com at legislation — you really have a voice there," says Ptolemy. "Can you image devel- oping something that lives through an act or through best practice recognition?" SPECIALTIES There are several specialties that occupational health and safety professionals may want to consider in lieu of being an OHS generalist. For example, behavioural safety is something that is starting to gain traction, says Ptolemy. This takes a look at the psychology of safety as it relates to employee behaviour. This may be of particular interest to people who like working with others. "(OHS professionals) can look at this as a career path especially in the organizations that are founded more on the service end of things where the human impact plays a big part in terms of behaviour, as opposed to a manufacturing environment where process and equipment plays a bigger part," says Ptolemy. Behavioural safety specialists can help employ- ees and managers be aware of what acts, values and assumptions they make that impact their safety. "There are a lot of unsafe acts and you and I can build all the administrative and engineering controls, have the proper PPE in place and it still happens because of people's beliefs, attitudes and even their learning patterns," she says. "It's a differ- ent way of managing risk." While they are currently few and far between, there are some job postings popping up specifi cally for behavioural safety specialists, and Ptolemy expects to see this area grow signifi cantly in the future. By Amanda Silliker Climbing Ladder THE CORPORATE and a lot of people might start in oil and gas but move into manufacturing or construction," he says. "The variety of where people can be employed is a real bonus and it opens up so many potential opportunities." OHS professionals may want to look to sectors that don't traditionally have health and safety roles, such as non-profi t organizations. People going into these roles are doing so because they really want to make a difference, says Shelly Ptolemy, senior occu- pational health consultant at Ptolemy & Associates in Calgary. Another area to consider is government agencies. "There is a huge opportunity to work with folks that build the foundation from a best prac- tice perspective or from the perspective of looking M any people go into occupational health and safety because it is a rewarding career — implementing processes and procedures that can save lives. But they may not realize it also has many opportunities for variety and profes- sional advancement. INDUSTRIES OHS professionals can have varied career paths just based on the wide range of industries that require their expertise, says Thomas Tenkate, director of the School of Occupational and Public Health at Ryer- son University in Toronto. "Even though the issues might be different in another sector, (the skills) are still very transferable A variety of career paths exist for OHS professionals