IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

                                               

THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

WHAT IS SAFETY COMMITTEE?

It is a method of involving all levels of employees in an organization to understand the organizations' safety and health objectives along with the diversity and variability of workplace hazards that can impact any employee while discharging their duties and accordingly taking the required measures based on an agreed and accepted terms with clearly defined responsibility and action plans along with continuous monitoring of implemented controls (or) arrangements for their effectiveness.

It is a discussion platform on safety and health matters and possible solutions where the participation, involvement, co-operation and commitment of employees is ensured so that everyone has the shared responsibility towards ensuring safety and health at work of the employees.

PURPOSE OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

The main purpose of any safety committee is to 

·       Promote encouragement and participation of employees in expressing their safety and health issues/concerns at workplaces with regards to unsafe acts or unsafe conditions

·       To promote co-operation between the employer and employees for carrying out action plans to ensure the safety and health at work of the employees.

·       To help reduce the risk of workplace injuries and illnesses.

 

STRUCTURE OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

The structure of the safety committee should be formed based on the consultation between the top management and the workers so that a proper representation of interests of management and employees are taken care of.  The main roles are

1)Chairman who governs and oversees the proper functioning of the safety committee, his role is very important since he represents the managements real and practical interest in accident prevention and providing a safe workplace. 

2)Safety officer/Secretary:  The safety advisor is responsible for the agenda of the meeting and makes sure all the persons responsible to close the open safety points prepare a proper report and present to the committee and plays a vital role in organizing and functioning of safety committee. 

3) Committee members:  These are the persons who are selected from different departments/functions at all levels 

 

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

1.   To select members from different areas and levels of the organization covering all departments and functions and clearly defining the rules and responsibilities of all the participants, this helps the industry to cover the overall safety requirements.

2.   Holding regular meetings, for this, the meeting schedules should be planned for the entire year so that all committee members will be prepared.  Example on biweekly/monthly basis/quarterly basis etc. 

3.   The minutes of the meeting to be recorded in writing and shall be produced to the inspector on demand and a copy shall be sent to the factories inspector of the region concerned

4.   The minutes of the meeting (recording and disseminating), which should consist of 

·       Previous or pending safety problems/ Issues discussed and action plan regarding the same.

·       New safety problems discussed and actions proposed to correct the same with responsibility assigned with time.

·       New methods discussed to increase safety awareness among the employees.

·       The achievements of the safety committee.

·       The persons who are present/absent for the committee.

·       The approvals required from top management etc.

 

  

FUNCTIONS OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

The main functions of any safety committee are 

ANALYZE:  The safety committee shall analyse all the accident/incident/Near miss reports and discuss among the members who are from different levels and departments to understand the root causes and to reach a better solution/control and ensure proper responsibility to implement the solutions with an accepted time frame.

MONITOR: The safety deviations/observations pointed out in reports (which include internal safety audits, external safety audits, safety inspection report, safety and occupational health surveys, risk assessment, emergency and disaster management plans and all safety observations data collected from various sources) should be keenly monitored for all the implementation of recommendations in the reports and to observe closely for any repetitive safety issues and the same should be discussed during the committee meeting.

REVIEW: The committee should keep track of all safety goals and their progress across all parameters that are defined and accordingly review them. A proper review should be conducted for all the safety and health policies and procedures established by the organization

TRAINING NEEDS: The effectiveness of training programmes that are given to all the employees should be verified and the training programmes needs also to be discussed in the committee meetings to understand the specific needs of all employees for making sure that companies Occupational health and safety management system goals, objectives, and safety training activities are accomplished by the safety committee

PARTICIPATION: The committee should ensure measures to stimulate interest in employers and workers in safety by organising safety competitions, talks and other activities on safety. There needs to be an equal number of representatives of workers and management, the workers’ representatives of this committee shall be elected by the workers. 

STATUTORY REQUIREMENT OF SAFETY COMMITTEE

    The importance of safety committee can be understood by the fact that its mention in statutory requirements like

ACT /RULE/REGULATION	REQUIREMENT
1) Section 41- G in The Factories Act, 1948	The occupier shall, in every factory where a hazardous process takes place, or where hazardous substances are used or handled, set up a Safety Committee consisting of an equal number of representatives of workers and management to promote co-operation between the workers and the management in maintaining proper safety and health at work and to review periodically the measures taken in that behalf
2)  The Dock Workers (Safety, Health & Welfare) Regulations, 1990	At every port, there shall be constituted a safety committee which shall be headed by an officer, not below the rank of Deputy Chairman of the Port.
3)The mines act 1955	the formation of safety committees in every mine where more than 100 persons are employed
4) The Building & Other Construction Workers (Regulations of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996	In every establishment wherein five hundred or more building workers are ordinarily employed, the employer shall constitute a Safety Committee consisting of a such number of representatives of the employer and the building workers as may be prescribed by the State Government: Provided that the number of persons representing the workers, shall, in no case, be less than the persons representing the employer.

 

 

HSE Notes by PJ Mohan

Sr.Faculty, NIFS