Luis, the best traslation, we find, is not a word, but an expression : “Prestação de contas”

Responsibility can be delegated but accountability cannot

Your example is a good one.

If an organization decides that personal protective equipment (PPE) is an appropriate control measure for reducing the risk associated with a particular hazard then it is important that the appropriate PPE is used and used properly. This is particularly important with respirators where improper use can lead to serious injury or even death.

Within an organization, activities do not occur (the wearing of PPE) unless individuals take action. The action each person takes should specifically relate to what he or she can do (his or her authority), what he or she must do (his or her responsibilities) and what he or she must ensure is done (either personally or by some other person). The organization should hold a person accountable when there is some result (good or bad) that occurs because that individual takes, or fails to take, a particular action for which they have both the authority and the responsibility.

For your PPE example -

Workers are responsible for wearing PPE that is appropriate for their particular work tasks. Typically, they do not select a particular type of PPE but are told what type must be used and when. They should be accountable (i.e. subject to being disciplined) if they do not wear the selected type of PPE when it is required. For example, some firefighting organizations have “zero-tolerance” policies that state that any worker who is seen fighting a fire without wearing PPE will be immediately fired. That is accountability.

Workers are not the only ones who should have responsibilities and accountabilities for PPE.

Someone within the organization (e.g. a safety engineer) has the responsibility for selecting the type of PPE that is appropriate to the work activities to be performed (e.g. the right respirator). This individual should be held accountable if the wrong PPE is selected. Individual workers should not be disciplined (held accountable) for wearing the wrong PPE if they have no authority or responsibility for the selection.

Others within the organization, typically supervisors, are responsible for enforcing work rules (e.g. assuring that workers who report to them wear appropriate PPE). They should also be held accountable if they do not act on their responsibilities (i.e. they observe workers who are not using PPE and allow them to continue working). In this case, the individual that should be subject to a negative outcome (a poor performance review, being fired) is the supervisor. Similarly, if the individual the supervisor reports to knows that this supervisor is not enforcing work rules, he or she should be held accountable.

It is a significant problem when organizations separate responsibilities and accountabilities. Some organizations do not hold individuals accountable (subject them to discipline) for their OH&S responsibilities (e.g. supervisors suffer no negative consequences for not enforcing OH&S related work rules).

The converse is also a problem – organizations who hold individuals accountable for activities when they do not have the authority or responsibility to take a particular action. Typically, a safety technician/engineer would not have the authority to fire particular individuals for work rule violations. Therefore, he or she would not be the appropriate person to hold accountable if an injury occurred because an individual was not wearing PPE while performing a particular task.

Please, it’s very difficult to me understand this concept and find a word to translate accountability for Portuguese (of course I don´t expect that you have a translation…). Can you give me more examples, please?

An example: Workers have to use personal protective equipment for a particular activity. It’s their responsibility, right? Who is accountable in this case? Would it be a person who has a function to assure that all workers use the equipment (here in Brazil we called Safety Technical /Engineer, role required by law)? When an accident happens, this person is called to ask about the accident. Is that accountability???

One more question: in your text, to hold/held is used as take arrest because a fail?