The role of the occupational health and safety professional in the construction industry: impacts of organisational structure on professional practice and outcomes

OHS professionals do not typically hold positional power and high levels of authority in organisations and, consequently, they need to be effective in influencing the decision-making and behaviour of others. This ability to influence can depend upon the organisational structure and relationship between the OHS professional and operational (line) managers.

This project compares two different organisational structures used by construction organisations that reflect different levels of centralisation of the OHS function. These are:

• situations in which OHS professionals are assigned to projects as full-time members of the project team, and thereby report to the line manager that they are supporting, and
• situations in which project teams are supported by OHS professionals who provide advice but to but who are not assigned as full-time project-based employees and therefore report through to a more senior OHS professional within the organisation.

The research will explore the implications of these structures for OHS professional practice and outcomes. The results provide will provide practical recommendations relating to how organisational structure impacts OHS professionals’ ability to influence decision-making, behaviour and outcomes in the construction industry.

• Helen Lingard
• Rita Peihua Zhang
• Payam Pirzadeh
• Huey Wen Lim
• Dennis Else
• Paul Breslin

Role of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Professionals: Literature Review (PDF 1.29 MB)