1. Effective Safety Committee
Bureau of Workers’ Comp
PA Training for Health & Safety (PATHS)
Creating an Effective Workplace Safety Committee
The creation of an effective workplace safety committee provides a focal point for conducting safety evaluations and providing remedies to conditions found.
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2. Effective Safety Committees
Positively impacts a safety management system
Permeates all levels of the organization
Liaison between management and employees
The effective committee has a positive impact on the safety management system providing direction and a systematic method of addressing concerns.
All levels of the organization are included in the safety mission.
It is the bridge between employees and management.
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3. Successful Safety Committees
Organizational Benefits
Reduces incidents and lost work time
Promotes employee involvement at all levels
Accomplishes more safety initiatives
Increases productivity
Benefits incurred:
Incident reduction and elimination of lost work time. This is of benefit not only to the employee but to Management due to providing continuity of operations.
Employees are made a part of the system
More safety initiatives are promoted and implemented
A safer work place increases productivity.
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4. Successful Safety Committees
Employee Benefits
Creates a safer work environment
Improves communication
Increases safety awareness
Enhances employee morale
Employees benefit from:
A safer work environment where they can concentrate on their work effort without worrying if each action will result in jeopardy.
Communication of adverse conditions found permits the knowledge something will be done to alleviate the condition.
Safety awareness is not just for the work site but also translates into safety at home.
Employee morale is enhanced when staff feel like more than just a cog in a machine.
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5. Effective Committees Written Committee Bylaws Mission Statement
Committee Size and Structure
Role and Function
To be effective, the system requires those things encompassed in a professional organization.
Written Bylaws are a must.
The Mission Statement narrows yet delineates the reason for the committee’s existence.
The size and structure emphasize the duties for members and the rotation of new members onto the committee.
Roles and functions create a “division of labor” to achieve the goals of the committee.
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6. Effective Committees Member’s Responsibilities
Management’s Responsibilities
Meetings
Agendas
Meeting
Minutes
Agenda
What each member will be responsible for accomplishing can be assigned and measured
Management has specific duties to ensure success
Meeting schedules allow members to plan their work schedules accordingly and
Agendas structure discussion topics and keep the meetings on-track.
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7. Effective Committees Committee Chairperson Committee Member Training
Hazard Identification, Evaluation and Control
Employee Involvement
The committee must have a leader to provide direction and guidance.
Member training not only includes initial and annual refresher on Workplace Safety Committee Certification/Recertification but training in areas specific to the industry dealing with safety.
Members must involve themselves in a thorough hazard identification program. At the same time evaluating the problems found, prioritizing the problems toward resolution. This includes adopting control methods.
Employee involvement means those who may not be committee members but representatives of the areas evaluated.
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8. Safety Committee Authority
Extent should be determined and communicated to all employees; e.g.:
Empowered and endorsed by top management
Acts as a recommending body
Investigate accidents/incidents
Implement changes
The Committee must be authorized in their endeavors by management.
The committee, having conducted their hazard analyses will recommend resolutions.
Accidents and incidents should be investigated by the committee with assistance from other knowledgeable sources which may be required.
Change implementation will then be scheduled to create as few conflicts with ongoing operations as possible.
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9. Mission Statement
A workplace safety mission statement is usually short and to the point. The purpose is to provide a general idea of the safety goal(s) that focuses on the health and safety of those who are employed with the organization or company.
The mission statement will be short and to the point. The purpose is to provide a general idea of the safety goal(s) that focus on the health and safety of those who are employed with the organization or company.
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10. Bylaws What to include in your safety committee bylaws:
Goals and objectives
Membership duties, responsibilities and training
Meetings
Hazard Identification and control
- Workplace Inspections
- JSA’s
- Incident Investigations
Evaluation of the safety and health program
Bylaws indicate:
Goals and objectives; what is hoped to be accomplished. It narrows the focus of the committee.
Duties, responsibilities and requisite training of members to achieve stated goals.
That meetings will be scheduled on a standard frequency so time is not lost between findings and actions to be taken.
Hazard identification and control must include:
Workplace inspections lending continuity to ensuring a safe environment
Job Safety Analyses (JSA) for existing and new constructs within the organization
Incident investigations to determine causal factors and means to eliminate future occurrences
The evaluation of the safety and health program will import new state-of-the-art methods which other organizations have found successful toward rounding-out your program.
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11. Committee Size & Structure
Comprised of an equal number of management and non-management employees
Representatives from all areas within the organization
To ensure management does not out weigh the employee representation, an equal number of each will constitute the committee.
A minimum of 4 members: 2-management and 2-employee, will form the committee. In larger organizations, this membership may be larger as long as Employer Representatives do not out-number Employee Representatives.
The goal is to have representation from all areas in the organization.
Where only management types exist, special provisions may be made by the Bureau to allow for this (in the event that the Committee is a “Certified” Committee).
An area might not have a designated representative but as long as there is someone on the committee who can represent this area, such would be permitted.
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12. Workplace Safety Committees
Role
and
Functionality
A Workplace Safety Committee (WSC) needs to have a purpose and function in order to maximize its potential. Not giving the Committee a role and function within the organization results in members meeting just to meet – nothing of substance will be accomplished in that case.
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13. Primary Focus Assist in preventing workplace injuries/illnesses
Detect and correct workplace hazards
The Primary Focus or goal of the committee is to
Assist in preventing workplace injuries and illnesses
To detect and correct workplace hazards.
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14. Safety Committee Function
The specific functions of the safety committee are to:
Review & update safety training
Develop safety work practices
Recommend use of safety equipment/devices
Review incident reports
Review items from reports & safety inspections
- Discuss employee safety-related issues
Specific functions can be described as:
Review and updating safety training. This training may take various directions owing to the type of organization and its interactions with other agencies.
The development of safe work practices can be obtained from vendors as well as professional organizations representative of your operations.
Safety equipment and devices would be engineering controls, generally the first alternative followed by Administration policies and procedures and finally the use of PPE.
Incident report reviews may lead to new operating methods and precautions which will enhance safety and not interfere with the organization’s mission.
Reports and safety inspection reviews will permit a knowledge of the history involved with systems; where past problems and failures were found and the remedies employed.
There must also be discussions of safety-related issues either discovered during inspections or as reported by staff.
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15. Safety Committee Functions
• Improve safety & health in the workplace
• Involve employees in the safety function
• Generate ideas for improving safety & health
• Improve employee/management relations
• Stimulate interest among employees
Functions of the committee includes:
Safety and health improvement. This will involve short-term and long-term planning.
Involving other employees in the safety function. Encouraging their thoughts and imagination in means to promote the safety effort.
Exploring what other safety committees are doing and generating ideas for consideration by the committee and staff.
Improvement of employee/management relations is a main goal.
Stimulating interest in staff that the improvements advanced are to their benefit not only at work but also at home or when traveling.
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16. Members’ Responsibilities
Attend meetings
Notify all employees in your area that you are their representative on the committee
Be watchful for unsafe conditions and acts and report them
Be responsive to people’s concerns; follow up
For Committee members to keep informed of meeting results and plans to be implemented they must:
Attend meetings
Let other, non-committee members know they are represented and who that representative is.
Likewise, just as the Committee hopes to achieve safety, each member must be watchful for unsafe conditions or acts and report them.
Be responsive to the concerns of employees and always follow-up on requests made or questions asked.
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17. Members’ Responsibilities
Ask employees for safety suggestions and concerns
Discuss safety issues with employees
Offer solutions not just problems
Always ask employees for their safety suggestions and concerns. They work within a small area in the overall scheme of things and are usually focused on their areas of interest.
Employees have good ideas concerning safety in their areas so Committee members should be willing to discuss safety issues with them regularly.
Committee members should be encouraged to not only report problems but to offer solutions.
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18. Managements’ Responsibilities
Provide support (time, effort, money)
Resolve scheduling and personal conflicts
Provide realistic dates for correcting safety and health concerns
Support training for Committee members
Provide leadership and direction
Attend Committee meetings
Management aids the Committee by:
Providing support in time, effort and money; permit workers to attend the meeting without being docked pay.
Providing realistic dates for the correction of safety and health concerns.
Allowing and encouraging training for Committee members as well as employees that will support the Committee’s effort.
Leadership and direction is vital from management and they should attend meetings to keep updated on safety issue status.
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19. Employees’ Responsibilities
Identify safety and health hazards
Report all unsafe conditions and practices
Make suggestions for improving workplace safety
Participate in committee activities/initiatives
Each employee is responsible to:
Identify safety and health hazards
Report all unsafe conditions and practices which may be more difficult because it may draw unfavorable attention to other workers.
Make suggestions for improving workplace safety
Participate in committee activities/initiatives
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20. Employees’ Responsibilities
Use proper personal protective equipment
Follow safe practices/procedures
Cooperate with Committee members
Consider becoming a Committee member
To conform to the in-house safety program, employees should:
Use proper PPE and encourage others to do the same.
Follow the safe practices and procedures designed by the Committee or Safety Manager. If one does not exist, recommend to the Committee that procedures be designed.
Cooperate with committee members and consider become a member yourself. Permit the committee/company to benefit from your knowledge, training and experience.
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21. Committee Chairperson
Accountable to top management
Sets the agenda
Coordinates meetings
Facilitates meetings
Ensures agenda is followed
Ensures everyone is heard
The Committee Chairperson reports to top management and should:
Set the meeting agenda
Coordinate and facilitate meetings
Ensure the agenda is followed and that everyone gets to be heard.
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22. Successful Safety Committees
Ingredients of effective safety committees
Trust
Healthy Conflict
Commit to decisions made
Hold one another accountable
Focus on results
Successful Safety Committees are ones that have the following:
Trust – Members are willing to admit mistakes, needing help on a project from another without criticism. Peers will encourage and support improvement.
Healthy Conflict – Opinions/ideas are encouraged and openly debated on their merits, and not based on personalities or personal agendas.
Commit to decisions made – Everyone feels their opinion has been adequately heard and the final decision has been made with the best interests of the organization.
Hold one another accountable – Peer–to-peer accountability is most effective, rather than accountability handed out by the leader.
Focus on results – Focus on how the committee does rather than how well one individual performs over another.
5 Behaviors of a cohesive team--- Patrick Lencioni
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23. Successful Safety Committees
Competent -- dedicated
Support goals & objectives
Demonstrate team effort
Develop mutual trust, respect & support
It has been found that the successful safety committees are staffed by competent and dedicated people.
They support goals and objectives realizing an unsafe workplace is unproductive. Lack of productivity may lead to a loss of customers. No customers=no business.
A team effort is created whereby mutual trust, respect and support are advanced by all members to each other.
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24. Objectives Should Be Set as part of your planning process.
2. Worded clearly.
3. Must be realistic.
4. Must be under the responsible person’s
influence or control.
5. Must be assigned to someone.
6. Completion dates must be established for each objective.
Objectives designed by the committee for policies should be SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-limited
Bad example: None of our members will be injured or get sick this year.
Better example: We will work to reduce back injuries in the workplace by 30% through training, information and observation for this year.
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25. Employee Involvement
Provides the means for everyone to develop and express their own commitment to safety and health
Involves the persons most in contact with potential safety and health hazards
Utilizes everyone’s wide range of experience
Employee involvement
Provides the means for everyone to develop and express their own commitment to safety and health
Involves the persons most in contact with potential safety and health hazards
Utilizes everyone’s wide range of experience
Everyone is more likely to support and use programs in which they have input.
Everyone is more likely to support and use programs in which they have input.
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26. Ideas for Stimulating Employee Involvement
Ownership: Give workers responsibility for such actions as planning and conducting inspections, analyzing their own work hazards, and developing safety checklists.
Leadership: Set an example by taking the same precautions, and wearing the same PPE, as you expect your workers to do. Be on the lookout for potential hazards and point them out to your workers.
Understanding: Explain the “why” of safety so that employees will realize that hazards put their own personal health and safety at risk.
Ideas for stimulating employee involvement are as extensive as the staff you possess.
Ownership: Give workers responsibility for such actions as planning and conducting inspections, analyzing their own work hazards, and developing safety checklists.
Leadership: Set an example by taking the same precautions, and wearing the same PPE, as you expect your workers to do. Be on the lookout for potential hazards and point them out to your workers.
Understanding: Explain the “why” of safety so that employees will realize that hazards put their own personal health and safety at risk.
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27. Ideas for Stimulating Employee Involvement
Commitment: Strive to get commitment from every employee that safety is a value.
Goals: Set clear objectives to help employees achieve safety goals and constantly evaluate them.
Competence: Train employees so that they will have the skills that enable them to work safely and avoid incidents.
Additional ideas for stimulating employee involvement include:
Commitment: Strive to get commitment from every employee that safety is a value.
Goals: Set clear objectives to help employees achieve safety goals and constantly evaluate them.
Competence: Train employees so that they will have the skills that enable them to work safely and avoid incidents.
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28. Ideas for Stimulating Employee Involvement
Persistence – Remember, and have employees remember, that incident prevention is an ongoing challenge that must be focused on every day – always improving, setting new safety objectives, and making steady progress toward achieving them.
Persistence – Remember, and have employees remember, that incident prevention is an ongoing challenge that must be focused on every day – always improving, setting new safety objectives, and making steady progress toward achieving them.
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29. Ideas for Stimulating Employee Involvement
Feedback – Praise employees who identify and correct hazards or report problems they can’t fix
Teamwork – Use every opportunity to encourage employees to play a role in workplace safety and incident prevention.
Responsiveness – Make sure you respond promptly to identify hazards and take immediate steps to correct them.
The following should also be considered as a way of stimulating employee involvement:
Feedback – Praise employees who identify and correct hazards or report problems they can’t fix
Teamwork – Use every opportunity to encourage employees to play a role in workplace safety and incident prevention.
Responsiveness – Make sure you respond promptly to identify hazards and take immediate steps to correct them.
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30. Employee Involvement Employee Buy In Show results
Protect employees’ voices
Give employees something meaningful to do
Provide positive consequences
Give people the feeling that they will have an
impact
To have employees “buy in” to a program, it must:
Show results. Mere lip service never draws people to a program.
Assignments must be meaningful not just busy work. The result must do something to advance the program in a positive fashion.
People need to feel their suggestions have a value to the program.
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31. Roles & Function Training
Effective safety committees need members trained in performing their roles and functions including:
The reasons for a safe workplace and working safely
The meeting practices that actively contribute to identifying problems and how to work toward solutions
The identification of the company’s specific industry hazards and how to conduct inspections, job safety analysis and other hazard recognition and correction
The correct techniques for incident investigations
Training should concentrate on Committee member roles and functions. It gives them purposeful direction.
Reasons for the training should be enumerated.
Practices need to show how it will help identify problems and how to correspond solutions to problems found.
Specific industry hazards are sought. How do we conduct an inspection? A Job Safety Analysis? And other hazard recognition and correction?
What are the correct techniques for incident investigations? What materials will be needed? What interview methods are acceptable?
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32. Member Training Topics
Other potential topics to cover with the committee and OSHA regulations including:
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Hazard communication (HAZCOM)
Bloodborne pathogens
Lockout/tag out procedures
Ergonomics
Emergency procedures
Housekeeping
Any other topics relevant to the health and safety of the company’s employees
There are numerous and various training topics as listed in the slide in which members should be trained.
This training evokes the minimum acceptable standards of OSHA. Even if your facility is not governed by OSHA, the adoption of these can constitute “Best Practices” and lead to a safer workplace.
Other topics would be area-specific depending upon the expectations of staff:
Spill and Leak Control
Compressed Gas Safety
Flammable and Combustible Safety to mention a few.
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33. Meetings Set ground rules beforehand Keep to the topic at hand
One person speak at a time
“Park” non original agenda issues
Encourage positive feedback and evaluation
Committee meetings must be structured otherwise people lose interest feeling the meetings are nothing but “gab sessions.”
Establish the meeting rules.
Keep to the topic at hand – “sidebar” conversations should be discouraged.
Only one person speaks at a time (courtesy should be provided to all of those speaking – i.e. no other conversations, cell phone calls, texting, etc.).
Non-original agenda issues can be “parked” for later discussion.
Positive feedback and evaluation of discussed topics should be encouraged; to show how they are relevant to the safety program.
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34. Conducting Effective Meetings
Program/assignment updates
Review of incidents
Other activities
New business
General discussion
Adjournment
Call to order
Roll call by the secretary
Introduction of visitors
Minutes approval
Unfinished business
Effective Safety Committee meetings are structured and organized. This slide shows the categories and sequence for conducting a meeting.
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35. Possible Meeting Topics
Ergonomics
Back Safety
Fire Safety
Electrical Safety
Slips, Trips and Falls
Employee suggestions
Wellness programs
Workplace Violence
Incident Investigations
Emergency Preparedness
Possible meeting topics are shown. You can select others as may be required to advance safety for your organization.
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36. Written Minutes Minutes should include: - Time & date
- Members present
- Items discussed
- Recommendations,
justification and
counter arguments
- Next meeting date
Minutes should be:
Brief
Finalized and distributed to committee members prior to next meeting
Approved at following meeting
Posted
Written Meeting Minutes serve as a record of your activities. They will also be viewed during an audit of your organization.
Meeting Minutes verify you are attempting to conduct your workplace safety program in a professional manner.
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37. Committee Record Keeping
Maintain documentation of the committee’s activities including:
Meeting minutes
Members present
Issues discussed
Recommendations and follow-up action items
Training given to committee members
Inspection reports
Incident reports and corrective actions
Committee records track the past, present and future of findings.
They provide a means to determine actions taken and if they were taken in a timely fashion.
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38. Follow-up Activities
Evaluate the success of the committee meeting in terms of meeting skills and accomplishments
Evaluate the safety committee process and make necessary corrections/improvements to make it more efficient and effective
Assure action items are assigned and completed
Plan and prepare for next meeting
After each meeting, an evaluation of committee success is possible.
Are you meeting skills and accomplishments as hoped? If not, what stands in the way?
What corrections/improvements are needed to make it more efficient and effective?
Assure action items are assigned and completed. If not completed, what hindered closure of the problem?
Plan and prepare for next meeting. What action items need to be carried forward? Which ones can be reported successfully completed?
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39. Evaluation Review and set new goals.
Schedule a 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!
During the evaluation process, review and set new goals.
Schedule a session to review progress on current goals and form new ones for the year to come.
Welcome new members on board.
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of your program.
Celebrate goals achieved!
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40. Communication 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.
Post information related to meeting minutes and the status of items reported for correction in an area where it can be easily viewed by employees:
Keep activities and goals visible to all employees.
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.
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41. Successful Committees
Success Factors
Top management commitment
Middle management, supervisor and employee participation
Involve employees in goals
Effective meetings
Effective training
Effective communication
Follow-up
Success Factors related to successful committees include:
Top management commitment is shown
Middle management, supervisor and employee participation is evident
Employees are involved in goal setting
Effective meetings stay on schedule, are thorough and efficient in problem resolution
Effective training results in transmittal of pertinent information and safety methods can be seen in the overall organization
Effective communication is a two-way street and employees know it.
Follow-up on reported issues and methods by which they were corrected.
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42. Technical Assistance Manual
Resource
Technical Assistance Manual
Click on “Workers’ Compensation” icon
Click on “Health & Safety Division
Click on “HandS” System
Click on “Workplace Safety Committee Technical Assistance Manual”
You can find additional help in constructing or checking your in-house operational methods concerning workplace safety committees at this location on the web.
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43. Standards to Reference
OSHA
- Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1910)
Available at
PA Department of Labor & Industry –
PA Department of Environmental Protection –
Other technical standards
(NFPA, ANSI, ASTM, ASME, etc.) – get help if necessary!
Several standards can be referenced which you may “buy in to.”
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44. HandS Tech Manual
A Technical Manual has been developed which can assist in the establishment, operation and function of a Workplace Safety Committee. The Manual is located on the Labor & Industry website ( The pages in the Technical Manual that are listed can aid an organization in structuring or restructuring their Committee’s operation. There is a myriad of good, useful information contained in the Tech Manual, and even Committees that have been in existence for a long period of time have found it useful.
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45. Contact Information
Health & Safety Training Specialists
1171 South Cameron Street, Room 324
Harrisburg, PA
(717)
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For more information on webinars and free training please contact a Health & Safety Training Specialist.
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46. Questions
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