Why Your Safety CommitteeDoesn’t Work

A. Daniel Whitfield II, ACA, ARM-PPublic Information Officer

Director, Risk ManagementVal Verde Unified School District

Eric J. Preston, ARM-PAssistant Vice President – Risk Control Services

Keenan & Associates

Safety Committee’s 101

• History of Safety Committees– Concept traces back to 1692– “Committee of Safety”– Used to communicate the

safety needs of the people

Cal-OSHA’s View

• Depends on how you intend to use your committee(1) Meets regularly, but not less than quarterly; (2) Prepares and makes available written records of the safety and health issues, maintained for at least one (1) year; (3) Reviews results of the periodic, scheduled worksite inspections; (4) Reviews investigations of accidents and causes of incidents resulting in njury, illness, or exposure to hazardous substances and submits suggestions to management for the prevention of future incidents; (5) Reviews investigations of alleged hazardous conditions brought to the attention of any committee member. (6) Submits recommendations to assist in the evaluation of employee safety suggestions; and (7) Upon request from the Division, verifies abatement action taken by the employer to abate citations issued by the Division

www.dir.ca.gov/title8/3203.html

Top 10 Reason’s Why Most Committees Fail

#10: Committee Has No Purpose

• Lack of direction/reason for the committees existence– Make it important• Establish mission & vision statement

– or• Outline Cal-OSHA requirements

But remember to keep it simple…

Mission Statement:The mission of the XYZ University Safety

Committee (Safety Committee) is to develop and promote a healthy and safe work environment for all

employees and visitors to our facilities through the involvement of all individuals with regards to education, communication and safe work practices. In addition to this

primary mission, the Safety Committee encourages all employees to participate in the safety process for the betterment of all concerned. The personal safety and health of each employee of the XYZ Facilities Management is of primary importance. To the greatest degree possible, this committee will provide employees a voice to management to ensure that concerns

and issues related to safety are brought to the forefront. In carrying out its primary mission, the committee is committed to four basic principles:Help to formulate and disseminate policies, practices, and procedures that promote health and safety.

Assist management in the planning of action on occupational health and safety. This will include helping to set priorities to control hazards.Act as a problem solving group to help with the identification and control of hazards.

Help to resolve health and safety issues.Activities:

The activities of the committee will include, but are not limited to, the following:Identify unsafe work practices and conditions and suggest appropriate remedies.

Review accident/incident reports. Types of accidents, causes and trends shall be identified and appropriate corrective action suggested.Assist in the development and implementation and maintenance of effective safety programs.

Encourage feedback from all individuals with regard to health and safety related ideas, problems, and solutions.Serve as an advisory body to the Auburn University Facilities Management Safety Steering Committee on safety programs and issues.

#9: Voluntold Participation

• Committee members are not interested/vested in the concept & therefore don’t participate or contribute– You can encourage participation & suggest that

there be a rep from each department/site – Be willing to take the “vocal” employees

#8 & #7: Too Few/Many Members

Too few can’t get anything accomplished.

#8 & #7: Too Few/Many Members

Too many, um, still can’t get anything accomplished.

#8 & #7: Too Few/Many Members

• Ok Goldilocks, how do you know what’s “just right”?– It depends on the objective• Larger (Over 25) for creativity and brainstorming, just

generating ideas• Medium (around 20) for having back and forth

discussions (usually discussing solutions to problems)• Small (less than 15) for decision making

#6: It Becomes a Complaint Session

• The only things discussed are all of the “problems” without any ideas for solutions.– Committee is seen as a

way to “speak your mind”– Authority of committee

needs to be part of reason #10– Stems from voluntold participation, size of the

group, and most importantly, the next reason…

#5: Management Not Involved

• If there’s no upper-level support/involvement then the committee has no authority to execute recommendations– Try to get a 50/50 split– Management needs to be

engaged and empathetic,even to the “vocal” members

#4: No Agenda

• The meetings MUST have an agenda to keep all parties interested and to allow the members time to bring thoughts to the table.– Can be used if the members get off-topic– Helps for recordkeeping & taking meeting minutes

• Requires a moderator or meeting “leader”

Tips for making a powerful agenda

• Start on time….end early!• 8:15am – Put times next to every item• Eric – Put names of topic speakers next to every item• Include a topic for reviewing action items from the

last meeting• Include a topic for scheduling the or announcing the

next meeting time/location• Send the agenda out AHEAD of time

#3: No Action Items Assigned

• Follow-up on items discussed at the last meeting is critical to show members and the rest of the employees that the committee is

actually accomplishing something and helps keep solutions & expectations manageable

#2: Committee Used to Make/Run Compliance Plans

• Compliance plans need to be written to suite the employees that the plan impacts. Some are organization wide but most are specific to a few key occupations.

• Tends to be overwhelming for a committee to tackle

Compliance Quiz Show!

• What’s Fed-OSHA’s annual budget?

• How many Cal-OSHA written compliance programs does a typical public agency need to have in place?

• If you held quarterly meetings and IF you could completely review one plan per meeting, how long would it take the committee to review all plans?

#1:

Time

What is time?• “Time” depends on your point of view:– Science = A continuous, measurable quantity in which

events occur in a sequence proceeding from the past through the present to the future

– Religion = Started with a God and will end when the world ends (it already ended according to the Mayan calendar)

– Business = Money– Sports = Reaction time, sprinting time, speed skating time,

how many days until the trade deadline, etc.

What is time?– Philosophy = they can’t agree• Time is part of the fundamental structure of the

universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. Time exists.• Time is an intellectual concept (together with space

and number) that enables humans to sequence and compare events. Time does not exist in and of itself, rather, WE are time.

Some simple truths about time• Time is irreversible (even with an awesome

Delorean)• Time has, and will continue to go on forever.• We only get to use a sliver of forever’s time• Our time here is finite• How we choose to use that time is what matters,

and how effective we are at using it is what will help mold our perception of that time.

Failure of effective use of time• Being busy is not the same thing as being

effective– Encourages waste of time on tasks rather than on

accomplishing larger goals– Not focused on your primary goals

• Time management is a misnomer…

Task & Action Management

Safety Committee Best Practices

Consolidate, consolidate, consolidate…

Find out what is already in place • Habits, rituals – workplace culture• No one believes that they have additional time, so find

out where they already spend their time and capitalize on it.

Think outside the…circle (boxes have sharp corners)

Few people likes the term “committee”• Call it something else. Labels can make all the

difference in changing negative climates into positive ones.

Boasts and Gripes

What’s working for you & your safety committee?

What’s not working for you and/or your safety committee?

Thank you

A. Daniel Whitfield II, ACA, ARM-PPublic Information Officer

Director, Risk ManagementVal Verde Unified School District

(951) 940-6100 x10672awhitfield@valverde.edu

Eric J. Preston, ARM-PAssistant Vice President

Loss Control ServicesKeenan & Associates

(951) 715-0190 x1196epreston@keenan.com