---
title: "Beyond Technical Expertise: What Makes a Competent Supervisor Today?"
description: Build supervisor competency to identify physical and psychosocial hazards, strengthen workplace safety, and protect worker health and well-being.
---

[The Trusted Leader Blog](https://engage.wsps.ca/trusted-leader)

# [Beyond Technical Expertise: What Makes a Competent Supervisor Today?](https://engage.wsps.ca/trusted-leader/beyond-technical-expertise-what-makes-a-competent-supervisor-today)

 Written by [Dr. Bill Howatt](https://engage.wsps.ca/trusted-leader/author/dr-bill-howatt) | October 28, 2026

When employers think about a competent supervisor, they often think about someone who is a subject matter expert in their field. Someone who understands the work, can organize people and resources, achieve productivity targets, meet quality standards, manage budgets, and help deliver on the organization's strategic plan. Those are all important leadership responsibilities; however, there is another responsibility that is equally important and often receives less attention. Managers and supervisors play a critical role in the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) system and in helping you fulfill your duty of care.

Across Canada, occupational health and safety legislation places responsibilities on employers to take reasonable precautions to protect workers from harm. Employers are expected to identify hazards, assess risks, implement controls, and ensure work is performed safely and managers and supervisors play a central role in making this happen.

Ontario provides a useful example through Section 25(2)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) which requires employers to appoint a competent person as a supervisor. The Act defines a competent person as someone who has the knowledge, training, and experience to organize work and its performance, is familiar with the Act and applicable regulations, and has knowledge of actual or potential dangers to health and safety in the workplace. This requirement supports the employer's broader obligation under Section 25(2)(h) to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.

The message is clear: supervisor competency is not simply about operational expertise. It is also about helping the organization identify hazards, manage risks, and protect workers.

Competency involves more than knowing the job

While technical expertise is essential, competency extends beyond understanding the work itself. When promoting and recruiting managers in your organization, you should be looking for strengths and skills in four areas:

- Subject matter expertise in the work being supervised
- Understanding organizational goals and performance expectations
- Knowledge of corporate policies and OHS responsibilities
- Hazard identification and risk management skills

True competency requires all four components working together. A gap in any of these areas can increase the risk for your employees and the organization.

For example, a supervisor may be highly knowledgeable about equipment and production requirements but lack knowledge of incident reporting procedures, workplace violence policies, or their responsibilities when a worker raises a health and safety concern. Conversely, a supervisor who understands policy but lacks operational expertise may struggle to identify hazards before an incident occurs.

The evolution of hazard identification

One of the most important elements within Ontario's definition of a competent person is knowledge of actual or potential dangers to worker health and safety.  Historically, safety programs have focused heavily on physical hazards such as machinery, vehicles, falls, electrical energy, hazardous substances, and ergonomic exposures. These hazards remain fundamental and continue to require strong controls.

However, today, employers are expected to provide work environments that are physically safe and psychologically healthy, respectful, and free from preventable harm. This means managers and supervisors must be able to identify traditional physical and psychosocial hazards that may affect worker health, safety, participation, and performance.

Examples of psychosocial hazards include:

- Workplace conflict
- Harassment
- Incivility
- Excessive workload
- Fatigue
- Lack of support
- Exposure to traumatic events
- Fear of reporting concerns

These factors may not always appear on a traditional hazard assessment form, but they can influence concentration, judgment, decision-making, participation, and safe work performance.

Where OHS and psychological health and safety align

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) can no longer be treated as separate programs and conversations. Both are focused on preventing harm in your workplace. Consider a certified forklift operator working with properly maintained equipment and established procedures. Even if the equipment is working well and procedures and controls are effective, if that worker is experiencing significant fatigue, workplace conflict, harassment, or psychological distress, their ability to work safely may be compromised.

If an incident occurs, the injury may be physical, but some of the contributing factors may be psychosocial. This is where modern supervisor competency becomes particularly important. 

Three ways you can strengthen competency

1\. Ensure supervisors are experts in the work

Competency begins with understanding the work. Supervisors should have the knowledge, training, and experience necessary to organize work safely, understand operational risks, provide direction to employees, and ensure work is performed according to established standards and procedures.

2\. Train Supervisors on OHS Responsibilities and Organizational Systems

Supervisors should understand:

- OHS policies and procedures
- Hazard and incident reporting requirements
- Workplace violence and harassment policies and procedures
- Emergency response expectations
- Their role within the organization's safety management system

Many workplace failures occur not because supervisors do not understand the work, but because they do not understand the organizational systems designed to protect workers.

3\. Expand hazard identification skills

Traditional safety training teaches supervisors how to identify physical hazards. Today's workplace requires leaders to also recognize psychosocial hazards that may affect health, safety, participation, and performance.

This doesn’t mean your managers and supervisors need to become psychologists or therapists. However, they should be expected to recognize hazards that could reasonably affect worker health and safety and know how to activate the organization's policies, procedures, and support systems when risks are identified.

Find resources for [identifying psychosocial hazards here](https://www.wsps.ca/search-results#q=psychosocial%20factors&t=All&sort=relevancy).

Ultimately, you want to strengthen manager and supervisor ability to identify risks early, assess potential impacts, and connect workers to appropriate workplace support before concerns escalate into incidents, injuries, or other forms of harm.

Skills and expectations must keep pace with changes in the workplace

As workplaces continue to evolve, you should ensure your definition of supervisor competency evolves as well. By combining operational expertise, knowledge of organizational systems, and the ability to identify both physical and psychosocial hazards, you can strengthen your duty of care, improve safety outcomes, and build a workplace that is not only physically safe but also psychologically healthy and respectful.

Get to know the authors – [Dr.  Bill Howatt](https://engage.wsps.ca/trusted-leader/meet-dr-bill-howatt)

[View full post](https://engage.wsps.ca/trusted-leader/beyond-technical-expertise-what-makes-a-competent-supervisor-today)

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