What is a Safety Committee? What are the benefits of a Safety Committee? How can a Safety Committee be effectively implemented?
Ultimately, implementing a Safety Committee is a risk management strategy that can help you prevent claims, reduce your cost of risk, and most importantly, keep you and your employees safe.
So what is a Safety Committee exactly?
A Safety Committee is a dedicated group of individuals across units of the organization, who get together with the common goal of reducing and preventing workplace injuries and incidents. For a construction company, the committee members could be made up of the president of the organization, leaders of different business units, jobsite foreman and supervisors who oversee construction crews, and any dedicated safety personnel.
The members of the Safety Committee come together to hold an open discussion to identify potential hazards, brainstorm solutions, and continuously improve safety protocols.
Why should we make a Safety Committee?
In today’s fast-paced world, distractions are everywhere, deadlines are tight, and work has to be more efficient than ever. The costs of mistakes—both human and financial—have also never been higher. In 2020, 1,008 workers died in Construction site accidents, and the annual costs of construction related injuries have surpassed $11 Billion.
Implementing a Safety Committee is one of the best ways to take a step back from the craziness of day-to-day operations, and focus on proactively addressing safety concerns, instead of reacting to them after its too late. It’s a way for businesses to protect their employees, and also safeguard the company’s bottom line. The main purpose of a Safety Committee is to promote a culture of Safety throughout the organization that is embraced by management and labor-focused employees alike.
How does a Safety Committee work?
A Safety Committee conducts regular meetings that are structured to be productive and inclusive. Meetings can be held monthly, or even weekly. Each committee meeting will have a written agenda focusing on key topics such as:
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Loss prevention
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Identification of hazards
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Near-misses that have occurred
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Recent job site inspections
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New regulations from OSHA
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Open discussion to give everyone an opportunity to contribute their thoughts and experiences
You can tailor your agenda to the needs of your business. The committee encourages its members to actively participate, share their insights, observations and safety ideas.
Before each meeting, members should prepare by reflecting on their experiences on the job and how it can be improved. This includes safety concerns, near misses they’ve observed, and any ideas they have to mitigate risks. This preparation ensures that discussions are meaningful and impactful. Meeting minutes will be taken to document decisions and action items to hold everyone accountable for implementing necessary changes.
The Safety Committee’s agenda should evolve on a meeting-to-meeting basis as new hazards are identified, new strategies are implemented, and results GOOD or BAD, are realized. Through regular meetings, safety initiatives and strategies can be adapted based on what is working and what is not.
For organizational purposes, it is important that specific roles are designated for the committee.
The two most important of these are:
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Chair of the committee – they ensure that the meetings take place, members are in attendance, and discussions stay focused
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Record Keeper – keeps minutes during the meetings, reviews minutes from prior meetings, and recaps the minutes at the end of the meetings
Other Positions can be voted on, and can rotate to spread the work.
Example of a Meeting
Here is an example of how a meeting can be structured:
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The meeting is kicked off and attendance of members is taken
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Minutes Reviewed from the last meeting to make sure relevant topics stay relevant
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Old Business – review action items of the last meeting and review if anything is outstanding – why is it outstanding and what actions are being taken?
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New business
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Since the last meeting, were any new Hazards, near-misses, or claims identified — what was the cause of the situation?
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Was there an accident investigation or incident report?
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Addressing Risks – What are strategies to prevent those situations from happening again – should we implement new procedures or protocols, should we offer additional training?
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Observations from recent job site inspections—are there any recurring issues?
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Updates on any new OSHA regulations—Do we need to update our practices/procedures to comply?
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Open discussion for any additional safety topics or concerns members may have.
Each Safety meeting should be concluded by setting a date and time for the next meeting to maintain continuity. The best strategy is to set a recurring monthly meeting, such as every 3rd Wednesday of the month.
In conclusion, the Safety Committee is not just about meetings—it’s about making a real difference in the lives of your colleagues and the success of your business. It is an opportunity to create a safer workplace for everyone, and promote a culture of safety throughout the organization. It is also a great way to make your business attractive to the insurance marketplace, underwriters are more willing to work with companies that demonstrate a culture of safety, which can save you money.
Remember, the success of your safety efforts lies in the hands of you and your employees. It’s crucial that safety initiatives that you discuss during your Safety Committee meetings are shared with the rest of the organization. Management should promote these initiatives and supervisors and foreman should share them with their crews.
Feel free to reach out to us if you need help in setting-up a Safety Committee for your organization. We have the resources available to help get your committee up and running quickly and efficiently.
Image by Mikael Blomkvist
About the Author
Cole Clauser is an Insurance and Risk Management Consultant at Rue Insurance since 2020. He specializes in working with Construction Companies and Contractors across the Tri-State area. He provides advisory services on complex business risks that go beyond the scope of an insurance policy to discover, design, implement, and monitor a comprehensive risk management strategy to protect clients and increase their profitability.
