Share: 9 challenges that security professionals must overcome – see how many you can pass?

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Recently, during a symposium on the exchange of experiences in enterprise safety management held in my jurisdiction, nine executives from companies that were recognized as leaders in safety production last year shared their approaches regarding the requirements for safety managers. This sparked widespread interest, and I have compiled these insights to outline the following \"nine challenges\" that safety managers must overcome, for everyone’s reference. First is the issue of ideological understanding: ideology precedes action; there are no backward actions, only backward ideologies. It is terrifying for an organization to fail to recognize the importance of safety work. Safety managers are the ones who are directly responsible for ensuring safe production in a company, and they are the ones who carry out the relevant tasks; therefore, their level of attention to safety matters greatly. Only by placing safety work in its proper perspective relative to their own roles, treating it as a top priority for the survival of the enterprise and as the foremost task in fulfilling management responsibilities, and ensuring that safety measures are implemented simultaneously with daily operations, can safety managers guarantee the safety of the enterprise and achieve safety benefits that cannot be purchased with money. Second is the issue of safety inspections. In their safety management practices, companies often face various inspections at different levels. If safety managers fail to handle these inspections properly, the company will inevitably be found to have problems; in mild cases, corrective actions are required and follow-up inspections are carried out, while in severe cases, penalties are imposed. The safety managers themselves lose face, and the company’s executives are also affected, with the possibility even of them becoming victims of these inspections and being dismissed from their positions. As a corporate safety manager, one must be fully aware of the great responsibility involved. Every inspection should be taken seriously, and any potential hazards identified must not be ignored. If such hazards are not addressed, it could lead to safety accidents, resulting in injuries or losses of life and property, which in turn may lead to accountability and lifelong regret. Therefore, only by attaching great importance to inspections, following rules and regulations in daily operations, adopting benchmarking for management, and sticking to the minimum standards can one remain calm during safety inspections and truly serve as a guardian of the company’s safety. Thirdly, safety training is an integral part of enterprise safety management; safety education and training constitute an important aspect of this process. First and foremost, safety managers must receive training and work with valid certificates ； Secondly, enterprise special workers must receive training and hold certificates to work ； Once again, company employees need to undergo annual training. In short, safety managers must always stay alert, actively participate in various training programs, understand the laws and regulations related to safe production, and promptly disseminate this knowledge within the company. Not only should they receive training themselves, but they should also be able to train others and serve as mentors. It is possible to persuade corporate management to take the lead in complying with safety regulations and setting an example by following operating procedures. Take the lead in implementing benchmarking management, strive to ensure full participation by all employees in safety awareness training, and guarantee that everyone is well aware of safety production practices. Fourth, enterprises are evaluated in various aspects. Safety management personnel should, when the enterprise formulates evaluation systems, argue firmly based on rational principles and in compliance with laws and regulations, and set evaluation criteria scientifically, so that both the management departments and the workshop teams can realize the importance of safe production through these evaluations, and also receive appropriate compensation for adhering to safety production rules. This requires one to be strict with oneself and lenient toward others in daily management. However, issues related to the principles of safety production are a different matter – safety production carries great responsibility, and failing to meet the assessment criteria will surely lead to serious consequences. In routine safety inspections, it is common to find that workshops and teams come up with various excuses when safety hazards are identified; the most common response is to ask for leniency, saying things like, “Please give me a chance; I’ll fix it right away, so there’s no need for any punishment or public criticism.” Once this happens, not only will they not make corrections, but they may even act even more recklessly, making it much harder to deal with them in the future. When it comes to assessments, leniency can indeed be shown, but it should only be done within the framework of what is reasonable and legal. Fifthly, when working in a company, it is normal for safety managers, like those in other departments, to engage in social interactions. However, such interactions must be done in a measured manner; one must not neglect principles or party integrity. Some enterprise safety managers go along with the prevailing culture of favoritism; they lack principles and don’t know what to do once their superiors give them instructions. They close cases hastily when offered some benefits, and in extreme cases, some individuals take this opportunity to enrich themselves, using the guise of showing favoritism to engage in corruption. This severely undermines the atmosphere of safety management, leading to a loss of control over safety measures and an increase in accidents! So the first one is the \"relationship factor\". Sixth is the issue of penalties related to family ties, friendships, and love – things that everyone relies on. In the process of enforcing safety regulations, such relationships often come into play. When problems are identified during safety inspections of workshops or teams and penalties need to be imposed, pressure from various sources arises. These relationships act like \"soft knives,\" making it difficult to handle the situation. Only by maintaining firm convictions, strengthening self-discipline and control, raising awareness of self-regulation, firmly resisting all kinds of temptations, and persuading and educating those close to us to resist these \"family tie bombs\" can we ensure openness, fairness, and justice, and establish authority in matters of safety. Seventh is the aspect of publicity and education: every accident has aspects that can be prevented and controlled. How can we improve the ability to prevent accidents or disasters? How to improve self-protection awareness? To prevent accidents from escalating and to address such issues, it is necessary to start with education and awareness campaigns. Companies have different safety regulations and systems in various industries, each with its own focus, but the goal is the same: to ensure safety for all parties involved. Therefore, it is particularly important to carry out educational and promotional efforts through various channels and methods. Safety managers must find ways to ensure that the general public is aware of safety regulations, complies with them, understands safety knowledge, masters safe operating skills, and grasps safety principles, so that safe working practices, safe travel, and safe supervision become the conscious behavior of everyone. Eighth is the aspect of ensuring responsibility for work safety – everyone has a role to play. With different job responsibilities, the safety duties associated with them naturally vary. As a safety management professional, one bears an undeniable responsibility for aspects such as the implementation of safety policies and regulations, the establishment of safety systems, the provision of safety measures, and the coordination of safety-related activities ； Safety responsibilities lie in their proper implementation. The challenge is to ensure that engineering and technical personnel, as well as those working on the job sites, adhere to principles and meet relevant standards, follow safety procedures strictly, and carry out their tasks in a systematic and scientific manner, thereby preventing any violations of safety rules. Only by assigning responsibilities to each position and individual, ensuring that orders are followed and prohibitions are obeyed, with everyone fulfilling their duties and working closely together, can potential hazards be minimized and accidents prevented. Ninthly, driven by interests related to supervision and management, some safety officers take safety work lightly and engage in superficial efforts, out of ignorance of safety regulations ； To prevent violations and illegal acts resulting from the reckless actions of individual employees, strengthening internal management and supervision of safety within enterprises is an important measure to ensure the implementation of safety regulations. The frequent occurrence of safety accidents is closely related to a lack of effective safety oversight ； Enterprise security managers must improve the internal supervision and management system, refine management protocols, and ensure that management is carried out in accordance with established rules ； At the same time, safety managers must also strengthen internal safety enforcement within the company, increase the costs for those who violate rules and regulations, and exert a strong deterrent effect on those who engage in such violations.