Safety Committees: Make them work for your organization
Mike Music
Protect your employees from injury and your organization from avoidable costs by organizing or re-energizing your safety committee.
A safety committee can help:
Save time and money by improving everyday work activities
Decrease Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations or other state penalties
Increase awareness of production or operational safety issues
Increase workers’ safety knowledge
Allow employees to identify and address safety issues directly affecting them
Make workplace safety a part of your organization’s culture
Who is required to have a safety committee?
Employers are not required to have a safety committee in states not regulated by state OSHA. However, it is a good idea.
In states regulated by state OSHA, the law requires employers with more than 25 employees to administer a safety committee.
Employers regulated by state OSHA with 25 employees or fewer may still be required to have a committee, depending on the industry and organizational safety record.
Your safety committee should include employees and management, with representatives from both production and administration.
If your company has multiple locations that all do essentially the same thing, one committee is adequate. If you have multiple locations of 50 or more employees, you should have a safety committee at each location.
The functions of your safety committee
Your safety committee should:
Conduct walkthrough surveys and inspections of the workplace to identify safety and health concerns on a regular basis
Conduct regularly scheduled meetings to discuss accident prevention methods, safety and health awareness efforts, hazards noted on inspections, and other subjects as needed
Review accidents resulting in injuries and “near misses” that didn’t
Develop recommendations and corrective actions based on findings from walkthroughs and inspections
Promote safety and first aid training for all employees
Some benefits of a safety committee include:
A positive safety culture promoted among the entire company
An environment created for problem-solving
Firsthand knowledge of workplace processes via walkthroughs and inspections
Employees working together for a safer workplace
Involving more people in the company’s safety and health management
Giving employees a broader base of safety knowledge
Contact your local Marsh McLennan Agency Safety Consultant to learn more about the best practices around safety committees today.
