Source
Moser R Jr., ed., Berverly Farms, MA: OEM Press, 2008 Mar; :1-459
Abstract
Here are the practical tools and guidance today's health and safety professional needs to effectively design, develop, manage, and evaluate health and safety programs. This popular, practical guide for health and safety program managers has been revised in response to the recommendations of readers and faculty at graduate education institutions. The title has changed because users noted that the book's usefulness extends beyond environmental and occupational health and safety, offering information not usually emphasized in general health and safety training. Readers in all types of health and safety programs will find the current edition indispensable in enhancing their communication skills, time management capabilities, and abilities to gain support from decision makers and other senior managers in their organization. The material can be applied immediately to the reader's own job situation, a focus that has made the book uniquely valuable. Each chapter of the new edition has been revised to include current information. In addition, new chapters have been added in the following areas: planning health care responses to natural disasters, terrorism, and other mass casualty situations; what works and what doesn't in leadership; implementing or expanding health and safety programs; productivity enhancement; and preparing for and providing legal health and safety testimony. In each of these cases one or more collaborators have added their expertise to the discussion. Appendices include items for new health and safety mangers to consider; examples of budget categories; audit instruments for occupational and environmental health and safety components; and a summary of parliamentary procedures to help managers expedite meetings and spot inappropriate attempts to block a program or prevent necessary discussion. In the author's experience, two essential aspects of management -- communication and time management -- have been most responsible for program compromise or failure. These topics are covered in depth, including three chapters on communication. The book also addresses another key area of challenge for health and safety managers: the increasingly multifaceted skills and functions required of them today. Known as the "pocket MBA" for health and safety program professionals, the book emphasizes practical management techniques and applications that have proven to be particularly helpful in practice. As in previous editions, the book's premise is that when the directors of health and safety programs acquire, polish, and use appropriate management techniques and skills, their programs are more effective and provide greater benefits to the groups they serve. Of special interest is the critical skill of gaining support for a program from decision makers and other senior managers who may have little or no health and safety background. The material throughout is based on management experiences of the author, the contributors, and numerous colleagues in senior management positions. "Real world" examples are used to emphasize the significance of various management activities. The examples include ones demonstrating successful efforts as well as those that are clearly "what not to do." Some of the latter may challenge credibility, but the reader is assured that the examples reflect actual events that have been modified only to protect the identity of the errant manager. As Dr. Moser notes, most health and safety professionals will eventually be in management positions. How effectively they function as managers, he says, will determine how effective their programs are and how well those programs serve the people who use their services. He points out that it is important to recognize at an early date when inappropriate or ineffective management technique are compromising programs. And he gives readers the tools they need to make this determination when necessary, improve their skills when called for, and increase their effectiveness on the job.