Safety committees can be a great resource for a municipality's overall safety and health program.
The goal of a safety committee is to bring workers and management together in a cooperative effort to promote safety and health and help make continuous improvements. A safety committee can analyze accidents to determine corrective action, analyze data to determine trends, establish monthly safety topics, suggest relevant safety training, perform inspections and complete hazard assessments.
Safety committees can review all injuries, vehicle losses, or near-miss incidents to help reduce the likelihood of repeat accidents. These committees can also serve as an accident review board, reviewing injury investigations and determining the root cause and if the event was at-fault or a preventable accident. Safety committees should not make disciplinary recommendations.
Accident review policies should address all auto claims and drill down to the root cause of an accident. The claim review should take into account the accident notes, witness statements, photos, and the FR-10, the form provided by the law enforcement department investigating the accident. After the investigation is complete, a supervisor can take disciplinary measures with the municipal driver if the collision was determined to be preventable. The safety committee should only focus on corrective action.
A safety committee should include front-line workers with the experience and knowledge to understand municipal job duties, and a random sample of other municipal employees. Safety committees can help analyze data and review employee injuries and loss data to identify patterns. This analysis should influence their recommendations for reducing or eliminating losses. The safety committee should recommend actions based on their incident analysis and implement actions to mitigate risks.
The committee should also distribute safety information to employees to help raise awareness and promote safe behaviors. Committee members should actively participate in safety inspections and ensure compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and municipal policies.
Accident reviews should consider what policies were not followed. For example, if the driver was holding and talking on a cell phone during the accident, the review should note that the city’s hands-free cell phone usage policy was not followed. After a root cause analysis, recommendations can include implementing an engineering control, or an administrative control, such as, changing the way a task is done, implementing a new rule, policy or procedure, or retraining.
Safety committees are not just a strategy — they're a transformative approach that empowers, engages, and enhances safety culture in cities and towns. Giving employees a voice and a platform through these committees can foster a safety culture that is not just followed, but lived, shaped and led by those who know it best: the employees.
More information about safety committee roles can be found on the roles and responsibilities webpage. For questions or additional information, contact John Ciesielski, loss control consultant, at jciesielski@masc.sc or 803.354.4752.