Effective Safety Committees

By Richard Buttenshaw
 Safety Committee Purpose

Three Major Functions

• Examine safety & health issues and
recommend policies.
• Conduct periodic workplace inspections.
• Evaluate and promote interest in the
safety program.
• Education and training

Problem Solving NOT Problem Giving

 Safety Committee Role

• Do you have an
advisory or action
oriented safety
committee?

• Does this role suit the

membership and
management?
 Basic Meeting Procedures
• Establish a regular, published
meeting time, date and if
possible, place.
• Have a written agenda.
• Take meeting minutes and
distribute to members and
department heads.
• Start and end meetings on time.
• Encourage all members to
express themselves in a polite,
respectful manner.
 See
handout
See handouts
 What makes a safety committee
meeting a disaster?
• Lack of participation
• Lack of organization
• Same old things reviewed over and over
• Nothing gets done
• Just a complaint session
• No influence
• People don’t know why they are there
• No decisions made
• Lack of support from management
• Lack of time to perform committee duties
 Key Foundation Activities
To make a safety committee effective, you have
to build it on a foundation of seven key
activities:
1. Accountability
2. Commitment
3. Employee Involvement
4. Hazard Identification
5. Accident Investigation
6. Record Keeping
7. Evaluation
 Accountability
• All members of the committee should
understand that the committee expects
each of them to contribute.
• Everyone has to share responsibility for
accomplishing goals.
• Committee is also responsible for:
– Monitoring how management holds employees
accountable for working safely.
– Recommending to management how to
strengthen accountability.
 Commitment
• Committee must have management support to
survive
– Encourage employees to get involved
– Act on committee recommendations
• Representatives must show a commitment to
committee
– Attend committee meetings regularly
– Complete assigned tasks in a timely manner
– Encourage others to get involved in identifying and
correcting hazards
 Employee Involvement
• Get everyone involved in achieving a safe,
healthy workplace by:
– Telling personnel how they can assist the committee.
– Encourage personnel to report hazards and unsafe
work practices to a safety committee representative.
– Act on personnel suggestions and recognize their
contributions.
– Keep the committee visible. Promote activities and
accomplishments.
– Choose committee representatives who will promote
safe work practices and will be committed to achieving
the committee goals.
 Hazard Identification
Prevent workplace hazards and unsafe work
practices by:
– Training to recognize hazards and understand the
basic principles for controlling them.
– Focusing on identifying hazards and unsafe work
practices that are most likely to cause serious injuries.
– Using accident report information to focus on what
type of hazards are actually causing the most injuries.
– Conducting workplace inspections at least quarterly.
– Documenting hazards found during inspections and
discussing how to control them at monthly meetings.
– Including department heads and employees on
inspection team.
Information sources
• Learn from history:
– MWCF & AMIC supply loss runs
– Looks for trends
• By department
• By cause of injury
• By person
– Track trends and losses internally
– Incident reports
 Hazard
Assessment
Accident Investigation
• Establish procedures for
investigating all safety-related
accidents and illnesses.
– Secure the accident scene to
preserve the evidence.
– Gather information.
– Analyze the facts.
– An accident investigation report will
be written.
– Take corrective action.
– Follow up.
 An alternative approach

• Committee doesn’t have time to actually

“do” the accident investigations
• Get supervisor, department head and safety
coordinator to do the investigations
• Safety Committee reviews the accident
investigation reports and:
• Check for completeness
• Look for trends
• Address possible solutions
 Recordkeeping
• Keep accurate, well-organized records.
– Record committee achievements.
– Use to see what improvements might be needed.
• Essential documents to keep on file:
– Accurate minutes of each safety committee meeting.
– Committee reports, evaluations, and recommendations.
– Department head’s response to committee
recommendations.
– Personnel safety concerns, suggestions, and
responses to each.
– Hazard reports and inspections.
– Training rosters and certificates.
Hazard Alerts and Logs

See handouts
 Evaluation
• Are we effective as a group?
– An effective safety committee knows where
they’ve been and where they are going.
• Review and set new goals.
– At least once a year schedule a half-day
session to review progress on current goals
and from new ones for the year to come.
– Welcome new members on board.
– Evaluate strengths and weaknesses.
– Celebrate goals achieved!
 Communication – Let It Flow
• Post information
– Keep activities and goals visible.
– Experiment with methods to effectively get the
word out.
• Perception is reality
– Make sure the message being received is the
one you want to broadcast.

You don’t want to be seen as the “Safety Police”

Show concern for health and safety away from work

 Obtainable Annual Goals
• Establish written annual goals.
– Set a special meeting time aside to
work on writing goals.
– Brainstorm.
– Move out items that are not
obtainable.
– Narrow down choices to five
tangible goals.
– Write them so they will have
measurable results.
– Publish list and keep it visible.
– Don’t forget the losers.
 Obtainable Annual Goals
• Assign duties to members as needed.
– Work on goals simultaneously.
– Break down large challenges into smaller steps.
• Regularly review progress.
– Get updates at meetings.
– Don’t let the one year mark sneak up.
• Celebrate when goals are met!
– Boosts morale within the group.
– Lets others see the benefits of having an active safety
committee.
 Brainstorm ideas

• Prioritize your problems

• Remember it’s a team effort
• Someone from outside the
department can maybe put
“perspective” on the issue
• Have someone play “devils
advocate”
• Don’t become the safety police
Picking your fights

See handouts
Picking your fights (continued)

See handout
Safety should still be the responsibility
of each department

Don’t let them put all the responsibility

onto the “safety committee” and use
the “its not my problem anymore”
argument

Remember – the Safety Committee assists and coordinates,

not takes over
 Selling the solution
• The best recommendations answer five key
questions:
– What exactly is the problem (surface and root causes)?
– What is the history of the problem? Any similar
accidents in the past?
– What are the options that would correct the problem?
– Who is the decision maker? What’s important to him or
her?
– What will be gained (benefits) by approving the
recommendation and what is the predictable result
(costs) if not approved?

No response is the worst response

 Add “teeth” to your safety program
• Have written disciplinary procedures linked to
following safety policies

• Consider a safety incentive program

• Require everyone to sign a “Safety Equipment

Use” policy statement (see handout)

• Link safety to reviews and pay rises

– Particularly for supervisors!
Questions?
 Video
“Effective Safety Committees”
Two parts

18 minutes

MWCF library ref 11.006