10 Ways to an effective Health and Safety Committee

Discussion in 'Occupational Health and Safety Committee/s' started by Neil Enslin, Sep 21, 2009.

  1. Neil Enslin

    Neil Enslin Moderator

    Too often health and safety committees are simply there to satisfy legislative audit requirements, very seldom adding true value to the development of a safety organization, which in my opinion is the intention of the legislator. Make sure your committee is an active, effective contributor to your safety program.

    These 10 ground rules will assist in ensuring an effective health and safety committee:

     Management must retain responsibility for overall safety, don’t delegate this responsibility solely to your committee.
     Have a senior manager (Section 16.2 appointee) chair the meeting to assist in ensuring that words of commitment are converted into actions.
     Task the committee to assist in the development of strategy and assessment of health and safety processes.
     Use data (incidents, rates, research, behavior analysis, etc.) to support decisions. Track the progress of goals and objectives and help management with the accountability part of the equation.
     Avoid using your committee as an operating tool. Don’t have members ―do‖ safety. Incident investigations, inspections, suggestion evaluation and hazard report analysis are better done with fast turnaround by line management.
     Give your committee members time, funding, clerical support, and other resources.
     Don’t let committee members become the enforcers. Enforcement must fall to management. One possible exception: A behavioral safety process can permit line people (along with management) to reward and coach behavior related to safety.
     Ensure your committee is not simply in place to let people gather so it can be said a committee exists. Look at how committees are used for quality or operations. Use them as a model.
     Always set objectives and allocate responsibility for actions.
     Measure your committee’s performance. Know when it’s working. If it doesn’t, make adjustments.

    Your health and safety committee should be a change agent for health and safety in your organization, not a futile yet costly exercise at legal compliance. Through sound business principals, well defined ground rules and measurable objectives this committee will become an invaluable tool in your health and safety program.

    Source: Gavin Bruwer, Inga Health and Safety Newsletter Volume 01-Issue 07