A well-managed, mature safety committee can serve as a valuable adjunct to your safety department.
Depending on members’ training and experience and the amount of time they have to work on committee business, you can expect assistance with:
- Regulatory compliance
- Emergency planning
- Rewriting the company safety manual
- Writing and reviewing job hazard analyses
- Drafting safety award applications
- Leading the effort to prepare a workplace for membership in OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP)
- Conducting OSHA and company-specific safety and health training
- Reviewing proposed equipment purchases for controls, guards, etc.
- Acting as a sounding board for proposed new corporate policies
What to Look for in Committee Members
Committee membership and leadership require hard work, time, diligence, interest and knowledge. Look for members who demonstrate:
- Commitment and interest in safety
- Concern for co-workers
- Good leadership qualities
An ability to work cooperatively with co-workers and management
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How Effective Is Your Committee?
Consider these ways to gauge the effectiveness of meetings and the committee overall:
- Ask members to complete a confidential, anonymous survey with questions developed by the full committee or a subcommittee.
- Hold focus groups or develop surveys for employees not on the committee.
- Prepare a committee annual report that can be benchmarked against goals.
- Develop a grid with committee best practices and anticipated achievements down the side, and check boxes across the top to chart how your committee measures up. Individual members can complete the grid and then discuss their responses as a committee.
- If your company is part of an industry association or has multiple divisions, invite representatives from other safety committees to conduct an audit of your committee.
- If you buy or receive safety services from your insurance carrier, ask them to conduct a committee review.
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Strong Leadership
Strong leadership is essential to safety committee success. According to safety consultant Richard Grandzol of Safetysmith, “You need someone chairing the meeting who understands how a good committee works. That usually involves having an agenda and building gatekeeping and timekeeping functions into the committee’s ground rules to keep discussions on target.”
The leader should also be skilled at delegating and keeping people accountable for results.
A committee chair who has the commitment and interest but lacks leadership skills may wish to participate in a webinar or online training course in effective communications or meeting management goals.