Health and Safety Committee Effectiveness

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Effective Health and Safety Committees – Part I

November 26th, 2008

Health and Safety committee effectiveness can make a big difference in your organisation’s Health and Safety program.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires of employers to constitute a Health and Safety committee as soon as two or more Health and Safety representatives are elected or when a Health and Safety Inspector instructs an employer to do so, so its mandatory (Section 19, of the Occupational Health and Safety Act). So like anything else, a committee works only when it’s done right.

In this guide we will take a look at the four R’s of Health and Safety committee success.

Representation

How many members should a Health and Safety committee have? The best answer to this question is that there should be enough members to make every part of the organization feel represented but not so many as to encumber the committee’s work. Striking the right balance between representativeness and effectiveness can sometimes be difficult.

When we look at Section 19 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act we see that it is the duty of the employer to:

Decide on the number of Health and Safety committee members

Appoint committee members

Attend every committee meeting

So with these duties in mind, the employer can now decide how many members to appoint. There should be somebody on the committee to represent each of the organization’s natural divisions, e.g. manufacturing, administration and stores, etc. If there are too many divisions, it might be necessary to consolidate things for committee purposes. For example, it would be unwise to appoint one representative from each facility if your company has over 100 facilities.

More Is Sometimes Less

I have noticed that the most effective committees are small in number, no matter how many employees they represent. A good rule of thumb seems to be that Health and Safety committees with between five and eight members seem to accomplish the most. Committees of a dozen or more, on the other hand, tend to have a hard time making decisions and don’t get much done.

Instead of adding members, you always have the option to set up sub-committees for specific tasks or at the most add temporary members when you need them.

Who Should Be on the Committee

Probably the most difficult task for the employer is to decide who should be on the committee. A good approach might be to ask for volunteers. You will need to be careful here because the employees who lobby most aggressively to be on a committee often have an agenda that isn’t representative of the other employees. Electing such members often leads to turf battles and in-fighting that limits the committee’s overall effectiveness.

it’s also a mistake to force employees to serve on a committee if they don’t want to.

It is also important to note that the Safety and Health Act clearly states that the Health and Safety committee members appointed directly by the employer my not be more than the representatives elected by workers.

Resources

SHEQAfrica.com – Home of the African SHEQ community.
SHEQ.co.za – Safety, Health, Environmental & Quality Management

SafetyAct.co.za – Occupational Health and Safety Act Products/Services