What's Your Opinion: Is your organization’s safety committee effective?

We include an employee from each department on our Safety Committee and inform new employee's that this individual is the go to person for their department. We also involve the safety rep. from each department in our quarterly safety checks and any other safety programs that we have giving them a sense of more responsibility and their involvement is a result of having a safe work environment. Our safety meetings are well attended and at the end of each year we reward the committee at a safety luncheon.

I'm going to cheat here. We believe firmly that our entire employee base is our safety committee. We have monthly safety meetings and it is stressed often that these meetings belong to the employees and it's a forum for sharing their ideas, concerns, complaints, etc. We had a safety committee years ago, but dissolved it as we worked very hard to impress upon our employees that they are effectively the safety committee as a group. We are very responsive to their feedback.

Over the years, as a consultant and safety manager, I've observed that most company joint safety committees are rarely effective. They often fall into one of two groups: the "Maintenance Committee" where people bring complaints about what needs fixed and eventually, the maintenance department or manager doesn't want to hear from the Safety Committee or the "Complaint Committee" where people simply gripe without seeking to understand. Often, Safety Committees become divided mostly along labor versus management lines when before and after the meetings, these people get along fairly well. The state I live and work in does not mandate employers have a Safety Committee; employers have them either out of best practice or contract requirements. I am concerned about states that require employers to have Safety Committees when there is no guidance on how to set them up to be effective. I have observed a few effective Safety Committees. I find that it required much time, trust, understanding, and planning for useful activity and education of the Safety Committee members and a suspension of the "we versus them" mindset on BOTH sides.

Wish that one of the options was: Do not know or do not have a safety committee. The data on that option would be very instructive.

Our safety committee is made up of our Owner, GM, Operations Manager, and myself (Controller - Finance & Administration). I have created the safety policy manual, set up risk control assessments with our consultant, attend risk control workshops as part of our insurance program, and do my best to provide training materials to employees. The other members will attend the risk control assessment meetings, but never ask me anything about our safety program, step up to offer help in providing training and getting our managers to work with me on getting that training done, and none of them attend the RC workshops. The only time I hear any kind of input is when our owner receives a report and finds out we have had an accident, or I didn't attend a workshop. My employees and managers don't take me or what I am trying to do with our safety program, seriously. It's very frustrating as safety is something I fell into. I wasn't seeking a safety role, but I do my best to create and maintain a safety program with the knowledge I have received through workshops, articles, and HR boards.

Such committees can be either too top heavy with management or too worker laden. Neither works well. If too top heavy, you won't have anyone who actually does the work of the committee. And too many workers, then you don't have the folks who have the authority to implement change. Far better to have a steering committee for management and a safety committee for workers. Together 1+1=3.