Section 5: Launch a Best-in-Class Safety Committee

In the context of fast-paced work environments, it can be easy to forget that organizational culture, management of change and anticipation and intervention of risk is established from the tone at the top. That's where the formation of an established safety committee can come into play. It's a chance to bring leadership together with team members from diverse areas of your organization not only to define goals, but to ensure you continue to make progress toward them. 

Knowing that, embrace these seven components of best-in-class safety committee programs to ensure success:

• Ensure diverse representation

Include representatives from all departments and shifts at your organization, as well as leaders and influencers in important areas such as human resources, procurement and legal. If the goal of meeting together in a safety committee is to highlight strategic improvements and effectively manage risks, these critical influencers are needed for buy-in and communications to organizational leadership.

• Set clear expectations

What common goal is everyone working toward? How will you benchmark progress—and what will success look like? Outline short-term goals, long-term goals and a simple process of collecting risk observations and feedback on adherence to safety processes. Then, conduct a simple “what’s working/not working” session so everyone can contribute. Make it easy, and expected, for everyone to contribute and deliver results/feedback at the next meeting.

• Provide support and needed resources

While senior leaders may not always be able to attend, their visible support, periodic attendance and contribution is critical for buy-in from the workforce. Managing time well as a resource is critical during these meetings, which demonstrates to the organization the importance of getting things done correctly, and keeps the team focused on the safety committee’s main goal.

Other tools and resources needed by safety committees might include: an established time/place to meet; an agenda sent ahead of time; leadership support and established pathways to leverage improvements and communications through operations, HR, legal, procurement, training and other departments; budget: one that's reasonable, integrated into organizational review and that anticipates future needs; set rules for time and attendance, along with expectations for contribution; tools for risk assessment and training for safety improvements.

• Provide a clear agenda

Draft agenda items for each meeting agenda well in advance. What's going to be covered, and why is it important? This will help keep everyone on track when setting goals.

• Set scheduling expectations

Everyone on the safety team should be aligned on the cadence of meetings that's appropriate for your organization. In the event that absences become an issue, first speak to the party in question privately, and gently remind them of the importance of your collective goals. The bottom line is that attendance must be mandatory for all.

• Set tracking and monitoring goals

Aim to wind down each meeting with a resolution on, say, two or three separate safety issues. These should be concrete goals—with limited scope—that can be effectively resolved before your next meeting. Just be sure to follow up! Items critical to safety/health, such as serious injury/fatality exposures should be addressed immediately.

• Communicate

Some sort of organization-wide communication should follow on the heels of every safety committee meeting. What are you working on? What are the short- and long-term goals? Sharing the committee's work not only increases visibility, but helps secure buy-in from team members across the company. Share the successes achieved through the collaboration between the safety committee and operations groups.

Finally, keep in mind that it's still possible to have fun—in fact, that can be what differentiates organizations that succeed with safety from those that don't. Strive to maintain a positive tone throughout the course of your safety committee meetings. Even short-term wins deserve to be commemorated and shared.