PURPOSE:
To understand how to make joint labor/management safety and
health committees better at solving and preventing back
injury problems.
TASK 1:
1 How can you make sure that your joint
labor-management safety and health committee is working
well? Use Factsheets #1, 2, and 3 and your own experience to
answer this question.
2 In general, what are the common problems faced
by safety and health committees? Look at factsheet #4 to
answer this question.
TASK 2:
You have been chosen to be a member of your workplace safety and health
committee. You are very concerned about the number of back
injuries in your facility.
1 What would be the top two problems you would
tackle first to prevent back injuries? Please refer to
factsheets #5, 6, and 7 to answer this question.
2 Why did you choose these two problems?
What does a safety and health committee do?
Safety and health committees are the backbone of a solid plan to prevent
back injuries.
LOOK HIGH AND LOW
Joint committees can:
- Identify the hazardous conditions in your workplace.
- Walk through and inspect your facility every month.
- Investigate and keep track of all injuries and accidents.
- Look at past injury records to understand risk factors.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Joint committees can:
- Look at existing injury prevention policies and see if they are working.
- Plan training and education programs for managers and
workers in all job titles.
- Help workers get the information they need to work safely.
- Review and approve new equipment before it is bought.
- Keep an open line of communication between managers and workers.
- Help to settle conflicts.
- Get a comprehensive ergonomic program going in your facility.
Who should serve on a safety and health committee?
A well-run safety and health committee should have equal numbers of labor
and management representatives.
Labor representatives should be chosen by the union. The
labor reps should represent and be in touch with workers in
a wide variety of job titles.
Management members are usually picked by the company. The
committee will work best if management representatives have
real decision-making power.
COMMITTEE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The committee chairperson should switch off between labor and
management. Switching the chair between labor and management
helps both parties feel a shared sense of responsibility for
the success of the committee.
In some workplaces, the committee secretary switches off
between labor and management. In other workplaces,
management writes up the minutes. Both sides should read and
review the minutes before they become official.
Making it work
Make it regular. The committee should meet on a
regular basis, at least once a month. The committee should
have a plan to meet in case an emergency meeting is needed.
A solid agenda. Work from an agenda developed by
both labor and management.
Write it down. Keep minutes and check them
carefully. Minutes should be reviewed and approved by both
sides. The minutes are your written record of every
complaint discussed at the meeting. The minutes also record
the solutions offered to the problems. Make sure that every
important decision is in the minutes.
Know who's responsible. List every action to be
taken in the minutes. The person responsible for the action
should be clearly identified and given a timeline.
Report back. Management representatives should
communicate with all management personnel to keep them up to
date about all problems, proposed solutions, timelines, and
other concerns.
Stay in touch. Union representatives should talk to
all local officers, chapter chairpersons, shop stewards, and
all workers about the ongoing work of the committee. Show
them the minutes to keep them informed about what the
committee is doing and to show them the committee is
listening to what they have to say.
No free lunch. Work time should be provided for
all committee activities. This includes times for committee
meetings, regular workplace inspections, attending and
conducting safety and health training programs, and other
activities.
Make it happen. Include language about joint
management safety and health committees in your collective
bargaining agreements. This can also help start committees
in workplaces where they have not yet formed and can give
structure to weak committees.
Take a walk. Inspect the workplace on a regular
basis. Since working conditions change all the time, a
walk-through should take place once a month.
Learn as much as possible about the hazards and risk
factors in your facility. Committee members can attend
training programs together about sprain and strain injuries.
Experienced safety and health specialists can be invited to
give presentations to the committee. Use checklists in this
workbook to help you decide where problems are:
Why joint
labor/management committees fail
Sometimes joint labor/management safety and health committees don't work
well for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most
common:
Too much planning but not enough action. There
is a lot of talking but not much walking.
The list-making committee. If the committee
spends a lot of time in its meetings talking about repairs
that may or may not have been completed, or about specific
workers breaking safety rules, then the committee is
probably not getting much done. While it is important that
repairs be completed and that workers follow established
injury prevention rules, these are activities that should be
done in a routine way while leaving most of the committee
time for the bigger concerns:
- Employer ergonomic policies
- Recent injuries and near misses
- Discussing inspection reports
- Launching mining programs for workers and managers
These activities can have a big
impact in preventing injuries and should be the focus of the
joint committee's work.
The buck stops here. The committee may not have
a budget. Without any money, the committee is unable to pay
for safety equipment, safety and health training programs,
or expert consultants who can make suggestions for a safer
workplace.
No commitment. The joint committee may not have
the full backing of top management. The employer
representatives on the joint committee may be
well-intentioned and sympathetic, but they may lack power to
make decisions. To be effective, the management reps on the
joint committee must include people who have the power to
make decisions.
Road map for health and safety
committees
An effective health and safety committee's main goal is to improve working
conditions and prevent injuries and illnesses. Since there
are many problems to solve, the committee will need to see
its work as an ongoing process. There are several parts of
this process.
Reach out to your co-workers. Find out what they
think. Take the time to listen to their concerns. Asking
workers to fill out checklists in this workbook is a good
way to interest them in the work of the committee. Ask them
what they think the committee should be working on.
Develop a list of health and safety problems.
Write down what you find out from talking to other workers
in your facility. This will help you choose which concerns
the committee should address and in what order. It also
keeps other workers informed and lets them know that the
committee is listening to what they have to say.
Pick a few problems to tackle at first. The
committee can't solve every problem at once. You will have
to choose carefully which ones to try to solve and when.
This may be one of the hardest tasks facing your committee.
Concerns raised by some workers may not be the same problems
you would tackle first. Make a plan of action.
Evaluate the activity to see if it is working. A
health and safety committee will only learn by doing and
then discussing what worked, what didn't work, and why.
Start small and build toward bigger changes. A
health and safety committee should try to solve small or
easy problems before they try to make major changes. Take a
look at the list of problems given to the committee by the
workers. First try to fix the ones you feel can be solved
easily. Build your committee on small successful changes.
Tougher problems can be solved based on the experience
gained from small beginnings. Taking an issue on early that
is too big can squash the life out of a committee before it
gets started.
Everyone has a role. In order to solve problems on
the job, you will need all the help you can get from your
co-workers. Not everyone will have the same level of energy
and commitment. Yet many people may be willing to help out
with small tasks if not big ones. The job of a health and
safety committee is to find the tasks and activities that
will help change the present situation. Add new levels of
activity as the committee's experience, knowledge and
commitment grow.
Information is
power
Joint labor/management safety and health committees need to be informed in
order to function. Knowledge of ergonomic principles, laws
and regulations, and prevention and treatment of injuries
will help build the reputation of the committee.
Your committee will need to find and review information
about the prevention of sprain and strain injuries. Luckily,
there are many good resources and centers that can help you
get the information you need.
WHERE TO GET INFORMATION
Your union's health and safety department can help
in many ways. They can get you additional information and
provide training programs on health and safety. See
Appendix E for the
office near you.
OSHA has a resource library with pamphlets,
booklets, and other information about a wide variety of
safety and health topics. For more information, see
Appendix D for the
OSHA regional office nearest you.
COSH groups are community-based "Coalitions on
Occupational Safety and Health." They are resource centers
on safety and health problems, and can help in many ways.
See Appendix F for an
office near you.
Universities sometimes have programs that
provide training on injury prevention. Ask your regional
SEIU office to see if there is a program near you.
NIOSH is the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health. They research workplace health and safety
problems. They have a toll-free number where you can ask for
information on many hazards. Call: 1-800-356-4674.
Other government agencies may have helpful information.
State OSHA, health departments, environmental protection agencies,
and state and local fire departments may be able to get you
information on certain health and safety hazards. Look in
the blue pages of your phone book under U.S. Government,
State Government, and City Government for the offices near you.
Other community organizations, such a research
institutes, environmental groups, and charitable groups can
also be good sources of information. You can get the names
of organization from your local SEW health and safety
representative, COSH group, or university program.
Your employers written policies on health and
safety can be a good source of information. Most employers
will have written plans for safety and health issues such a
safe lifting procedures, chemicals you work with, accident
reporting, and many others.
Health and
safety committee activities
There is no set list of activities for a good joint labor/management
health and safety committee. A really effective committee
will be limited only by its imagination and energy.
Here are some activities that joint committees can do:
Use the checklists and surveys in this workbook to
collect information.
Educate co-workers and management personnel. Some
ways to do this include:
- Reports at staff, union, and management meetings
- Posters on bulletin boards
- Health and safety newsletters
- Sponsor training programs, talks and presentations
- On-the-job meetings on health and safety issues
Form product
evaluation committees. These committees review new
lifting equipment and devices. Nursing home workers at many
SEIU local unions have been part of these committees. They
have worked with management to buy safer equipment.
Keep records. An important job of the committee
is to keep track of all injuries in the facility. Sometimes
this is the only proof that there are hazards in the nursing
home. Facts are needed to make changes.
Start a library and resource center. See
Fact Sheet 6 in this chapter for a list of groups that
may have materials free or for sale.
Do monthly inspections. Make sure that both labor
and management reps are present at every inspection. Workers
in every area being inspected should be asked questions
about safety and health hazards.
Investigate all accidents and near misses. A
thorough investigation after the fact can uncover the cause
of an accident and steps can be taken to prevent it from
happening again. Obviously, safety improvements should be
made before an accident or near miss happens.
A plan for
change: Safety and health committees
1 Joint labor/management safety and health
committees are one of the best ways to tackle ergonomic
problems. There should be equal numbers of representatives
from labor and management. The labor reps should be chosen
by the union. The management reps should have power to make
real decisions.
2 The committee should set an agenda in advance,
meet regularly, and always keep a written record of
decisions made and problems discussed. The person
responsible for completing a task and the timeline to solve
problems should be clearly stated in the minutes. Minutes
should be read and agreed upon before they ate put into the
permanent record.
3 Work time should be provided for all committee
activities. This includes committee meetings, committee
activities, inspections, surveys, and training programs.
4 The committee can use the surveys and
checklists in this manual to gather information from workers
about hazards and concerns in the facility. Other important
activities include: investigating accidents, training labor
and management, keeping records, and getting a comprehensive
ergonomic program started.
5 Joint committees fail when they lack the ability
to make real decisions and changes. Without resources, the
ability to make changes, and full support from top
management, joint committees may be limited in their efforts
to make the workplace safer.
6 The committee should pick problems that can be
solved and are important to the worker. Make a plan of
action, then evaluate how things went. Build your committee
on small successful changes.
7 Information is power. Use the sources of
information mentioned in this activity to learn as much as
possible about how to prevent back injuries and other safety
and health hazards.
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