Supervisor Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Supervisors play a vital role in creating safe and productive workplaces with very specific health and safety responsibilities that need to be understood.

Supervisors are often the link between an employer's safety program and the workers carrying out the work. Their leadership, communication, and decision-making directly influence workplace safety, compliance, and performance.

A supervisor is a person who instructs, directs, and controls workers in the performance of their duties. A supervisor can be any worker — management or staff — who meets this definition, whether he or she has the supervisor title. If someone in the workplace has a supervisor’s responsibilities, that person is responsible for worker health and safety.

As a supervisor, some of your key responsibilities include the following:

• Ensure the health and safety of all workers under your direct supervision.
• Know the WorkSafeBC requirements that apply to the work under your supervision and make sure those requirements are met.
• Ensure workers under your supervision are aware of all known hazards.
• Ensure workers under your supervision have the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which is being used properly, regularly inspected, and maintained.

What is a Qualified and Competent Crane Supervisor?

BC Crane Safety defines a qualified and competent crane supervisor as an individual who has at least 7+ years of working knowledge, skill and experience (recommended). This individual’s skills and role can vary. Qualified and competent crane supervisors may provide direct and indirect supervision.

• Qualified means the person has the knowledge, training, and experience to perform the assigned supervisory duties safely. A qualified supervisor should be familiar with the crane type, the work being supervised, the hazards, and the applicable regulations, standards, and manufacturer or engineer requirements.
• Competent means the person is qualified for the work and able to identify existing or predictable hazards, understand the applicable WorkSafeBC requirements, and take or direct prompt corrective action within their authority.

Supervisor Due Diligence

Due diligence means taking every reasonable precaution to protect workers and maintain a safe workplace.

Due diligence depends on both action and documentation. Supervisors should not only ensure safe work is being done, but also ensure that key decisions, inspections, instructions, meetings, corrective actions, and evaluations are documented.

Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities

Everyone in the workplace has a role in keeping their work environment safe. Owners, employers, supervisors, workers, and prime contractors all have key roles, rights and responsibilities as outlined in the Workers’ Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.

Supervising Provisional Crane Operators

Provisional crane operators must work under supervision for their entire training period until they achieve Full Scope certification. This requirement exists because the provisional operator designation is similar to a driver’s learner’s licence, where the crane operator is still developing the experience and judgement needed to work independently.

Level Up, Own Your Lift

As part of the Level Up Self-Inspection Program, BC Crane Safety has developed a self-planned inspection process for worksites that use cranes (mobile, self-erect and tower) to measure your responsible persons'/parties' compliance with crane safety.

Safe Work Practices

Supervisors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the available BC Crane Safety safe work practices, procedures, and tools to improve safe production on your worksites.

Regulatory Responsibilities

Supervisors must understand and apply requirements under the Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.