Introduction

It has been the experience of the author over the last 40 years that most companies have not done an adequate job of properly preparing an employee to take on the role of a supervisor. They take their best welder (or any craft position) and make him/her a foreman and in doing so have accomplished two things. They have lost their best welder and usually now have their worst supervisor. This person has gone from burning rods one day to leading people the next. So, what happened overnight? Was there some magical transformation that has taken place? No! And here in lies the problem. This paper will focus on what the author feels are the key components to developing leadership at the field level and making a difference in an effective safety process. This paper will key on the fact that a supervisor can be an asset (valuable to the company) or a liability (disadvantage to the company).

Keywords:
job duty, evaluation, work environment, liability, right people, front line supervisor, supervisor, effective leader, evaluate employee, foreman
Subjects:
Safety, Professionalism, Training, and Education
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2013. American Society of Safety Engineers
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