Safety Committees

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The Federal Government does not mandate that an organization maintain a safety committee; however, approximately 14 states do require employers with over 25 employees maintain safety committees.

Maintaining a safety committee is a critical component to maintain a strong safety program and is recommended by most safety experts and governmental labor agencies. As such, there is a wealth of information available in public domain on the topic, which the content of this blog is based.

Why should an organization have a safety committee? The safety committee, if functioning properly allows for the following:

1.       Provides a forum for employees to voice their concerns about safety issues.

2.       Allows for the employee involvement in the safety process.

3.       Provides for an open forum for safety discussions and a mechanism to report to management on the safety process and results.

4.       Employee morale should improve.

5.       A reduction in incidents leading to injury should be realized.

6.       A creation of a culture of safety throughout an organization.

(Source: http://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/videoresource/stpsafetycomm.pdf)

For the safety committee to be successful it needs to be structured. The committee should have set meetings dates on a predetermined cycle, an agenda, a chairman, a secretary, meeting minutes that are maintained and reviewed with management, and have attendance recorded.

A meeting agenda may have the following topic headings:

1. Call to Order
2. Old Business
3. Accident Review
4. Inspection Report

The meeting minutes may have the following topic headings:

1.  Date and Time of the Meeting
2.  Location of the meeting.
3. Chairperson.
4. Members in attendance.

Then provide commentary in separate headings for the topics contained in items 2 through 5 as listed in the preceding paragraph.

The safety committee should be made up of a manageable number of people that will be determined, in part, by the size of the organization. A small company may decide on 5 to 6 members, while a larger company may want to have 10 to 12 members. The committee should be made up of an equal number of management appointees and employee elected representatives. States that mandate safety committees often time require employee representation to out number the management representation on the safety committee.

The safety committee should have a charter that includes its mission and the goals that intends to achieve. By way of example the committee may be charged with:

1. The committee will review and maintain safety policies and procedures in the form of a Injury and Illness Protection Policy.
2. The committee will review all new injury incidents including reported near misses.
3. The committee will make recommendations to management regarding process changes to prevent injury.
4. The committee will conduct safety investigations.
5. The committee will conduct safety audits. 

As emphasized in the last blog post, the committee needs to be sanctioned and supported by senior management. 

Sometimes the hardest part is to get started, but there is no time like the present.

(Image source: http://www.thomaseatonschool.co.uk/propertyhealth-and-safety-committee/)