While nearly all workplaces must abide by certain safety standards, there are undoubtedly some industries that must have a greater focus on safety. When safety is of great significance, it’s important for hiring managers to include interview questions that will help them find employees in every position that not only value safety protocols but will contribute to their effectiveness as well.
Provide Candidates with a Brief Snapshot of Your Safety Efforts
If you want to convey the importance of safety to your candidates, it’s a good idea to first provide some context about how your company makes it a priority. Include a snapshot about how it’s ingrained in the company culture, whether you have a safety committee or how the safety training process is handled. This way, candidates can hear firsthand that safety is taken seriously, and your next hire needs to feel the same way about it.
Must-Ask Interview Questions for Safety
Training, Certifications & Education
Ask your candidates about any training, classes, certifications they have achieved in workplace safety. Certifications should be from institutions accredited by the National Commission of Certifying Agencies, the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards, or another nationally-recognized organization which uses certification criteria equal to or greater than that of the NCCA or CESB.
Safety Management Experience
If it’s an appropriate question for the role, ask about what type of management experience a candidate has when it comes to implementing safety protocols, training employees on safety procedures, or other managerial experiences as it relates to workplace safety.
Relating to safety management, it’s good to ask a candidate how they handle employees who do not adhere to safety rules, if there is push-back about effective procedures, and how to handle gear requirement changes.
Behavior-Based Safety Interview Questions
During an interview, asking behavior-based questions can be particularly helpful. Here are a few questions that will allow you to gain insight on how candidates have performed in their previous experiences.
- Have you ever been in a situation where you noticed a safety hazard in the workplace? How did you handle that situation?
- If you’ve ever felt unsafe at work, how did you handle that situation?
- How did you get employees to adapt to new company safety regulations?
- How do you handle employees who do not follow safety regulations?
- Have you ever created a new safety process from the ground up? Tell us about the process and what you learned from it.
Allow for Candidates to Ask Safety Questions
Finally, allow every candidate to have a chance to ask questions about safety procedures and protocols. Giving them a chance to ask questions can help you understand more about their concerns, experiences, and goals for their position at the company.
Find a Qualified Candidate for Your Open Positions
If you’re looking for a better pool of professionals to consider for open positions, contact Axiom Staffing Group.
