Safety Committees
A safety committee brings workers and managers together to find hazards, review incidents and fix problems. Done well, it gives workers a real voice and catches problems supervisors miss. Done badly, it’s a monthly meeting nobody remembers.
- Construction
- General Industry
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Tennessee
- Washington
What a committee does
- Inspects the workplace on a regular schedule
- Reviews injuries, near misses and incident investigations
- Collects hazard reports and safety suggestions from workers
- Recommends fixes and follows up until they’re done
- Helps plan training and review written programs
Who should serve
- Workers from different crews, shifts and trades, chosen or elected by workers, not just picked by management
- At least one manager who can approve fixes and spending
- A chairperson and someone to keep minutes
Many states require at least as many worker members as management members.
States that require committees
Federal OSHA doesn’t require safety committees, but several states do for some or all employers, including Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Nevada, Tennessee (for employers with high injury rates) and North Carolina (for some employers with high injury costs). Some states also give workers’ comp premium discounts for certified committees. See State Plans.
Making it work
- Meet regularly (monthly is common) on paid time.
- Use an agenda: open items, new incidents, inspection findings, worker concerns.
- Assign each fix to a person with a due date, and report progress at the next meeting.
- Post minutes where workers can read them.
- Walk the site together; look at actual work, not just paperwork.
- Give members training in hazard recognition and incident investigation.
- Don’t use the committee to discipline workers or assign blame.
- Don’t let recommendations sit without an answer.
Meeting checklist
- Last meeting’s action items reviewed
- Injuries and near misses since the last meeting reviewed
- Inspection findings discussed and assigned
- Worker suggestions answered
- Minutes posted
Union sites: many contracts set up joint labor-management safety committees. In non-union workplaces, committees must be set up so they don’t act as a company-controlled substitute for a union; the NLRB has rules about this. When in doubt, focus the committee strictly on safety and health.
Standards & references
Last updated: