How Organizational Design Can Influence Safer, Healthier, and More Productive Workplaces

By taking the time to assess and design an effective organizational structure for workplace safety and health, companies can leverage key drivers to achieve safety excellence.

Where (and at what level) does safety sit in your organization? What processes do you have in place to strengthen partnerships across the organization? One thing I often say about our work as health and safety professionals, and this is true for even small and medium sized companies, is observe where safety is in your organization—where does it sit and to whom does safety report in the organization structure? Not every company has the same resources, and in smaller organizations, safety may not be the only hat someone wears. But does it have equal footing with operational leaders, human resources, and finance, as well as legal? Do you have a balanced four-legged stool?  Whether you do, I think, says a lot about the culture of the company and whether safety is truly a top priority. At the very least, an optimal organization structure helps companies can create a safer, healthier, and more productive workplace. 

Organizational structure defines the patterns of behavior and interaction among employees that are designed to support and advance the organization’s goals. See Nebojša Janićijević, The Mutual Impact of Organizational Culture and Structure, Economic Annals (July 2013). Organizational design aligns a company's structure, processes, and culture with its goals and objectives. There is a lot to uncover behind the relationship between EHS organizational structure and design and EHS success, but one thing that is clear is by aligning all aspects of the organization with EHS, companies can achieve greater accountability and effectiveness in meeting those goals.

While there is no "one size fits all" solution, the EHS team should be positioned and organized for streamlining processes, improving communication, and allocating ownership and resources effectively. In my view, if safety is pushed down in the chain of command in an organization, without horizontal equality to other senior leaders in the company, there is the risk that the senior leaders will come to believe that safety is someone else’s job and responsibility instead of internalizing it into their own identity and motivation; influence and trust is harder to come by. The relationship between EHS professionals and senior leadership is, thus, crucial to EHS success. Work from the National Safety Council's Campbell Institute supports that organizational design of EHS is likely to influence the organization’s culture and how safety is represented within it. See Measuring and Promoting Safety Culture, Campbell Institute (2021).

A core feature of high reliability organizations (HROs) is that many individuals—spanning various hierarchical levels, departments, units, and work crews—personally identify with and take ownership of safety. A well-structured organization reduces confusion and promotes accountability by establishing a clear chain of command, defining authority levels, setting employee expectations, and outlining the interconnected management systems within the organization.

The design of an EHS organization also influences its management systems, shaping elements such as decision-making processes, resource allocation, and reporting hierarchies. See Arnold Hax and Nicolas Majluf, Organizational Design: A Survey and an Approach, Operations Research (Vol. 29, No. 3, May-June 1981). Ideally, a company’s EHS organizational structure supports EHS professionals by placing them within a clearly defined EHS management system. See National Safety Council’s Campbell Institute, Considerations for Designing an Optimal EHS Organizing Structure (2024).

According to the ANSI/ASSP Z10 "Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems," of which I am a volunteer member of the standard committee, there are core elements of an integrated EHS management system (SMS), which include the following:

1. Management Leadership & Employee Participation: Management leadership must demonstrate a strong commitment and remain heavily involved in the SMS. The organization also must establish a process that ensures meaningful employee participation throughout all levels.

2. Planning: The SMS must include a plan to identify and prioritize safety and health issues such as hazards, risks, SMS deficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. The organization must establish goals and objectives to improve upon the SMS as well. The plan must also address integration of EHS management system components in procedures, policies, and operational systems.

3. Implementation & Operation: An effective SMS includes elements for its effective implement, including risk assessment; education, training, and competence; communication; and document control process.

4. Evaluation and Corrective Action: The SMS must assess its performance through monitoring, measurement, evaluation, incident investigation, and audits. A robust audit program must be in place to identify system successes and weaknesses, with an external verification function, and appropriate corrective action.

5. Management Review: Top management, together with key organizational leaders, must regularly conduct strategic evaluations of SMS performance and recommend necessary improvements. The reviews must be conducted by top management so there is authority to make the necessary decisions about allocating resources about choices.

ISO 45001, an internationally recognized framework for managing occupational health and safety risks, also emphasizes the importance of leadership commitment, worker involvement, risk assessment, legal and regulatory compliance and utilizing the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology to manage health and safety.

By taking the time to assess and design an effective organizational structure for workplace safety, companies can reap significant benefits in the long term. In conclusion, organizational design is not just about structure; it's about creating an environment where safety is valued and prioritized at all levels. By integrating safety into every aspect of the organization, companies can create a safer, healthier, and more productive workplace for everyone. 

Side note: I’m curious, where does your safety team sit (e.g., in operations, compliance, HR, finance, legal, etc., and to whom does the chief safety officer report)? Send me a message with your thoughts.

Message Me