A health and safety committee can make an important difference. That's why so many U.S. companies use them. And in Canada, they're required by law. But like anything else, committees work only when they're done right. And often they're not. In this series, I'll explain how to make a committee work. The secret to safety committee success is the four R's.

The First R: Representation

Safety committees need to have enough members so that all parts of the organization feel represented. But they can't have so many members as to encumber the committee's work. Striking the right balance between representativeness and effectiveness is a challenge.

There should be somebody on the committee to represent each of the organization's natural divisions, e.g., process, operation, building, etc. But if there are too many divisions, it might be necessary to consolidate things for committee purposes. For example, it would be unwise to appoint one representative from each facility if your company has over 100 facilities.

Bigger Isn't Always Better for Safety Committees

Having worked with committees of all sizes, I have noticed that the most effective committees are small in number, no matter how many employees they represent. Committees with between five and eight members seem to accomplish the most. Committees of a dozen or more, on the other hand, tend to have a hard time making decisions. As a result, they don't get much done.

My advice for organizations that want more help: Instead of adding members, set up sub-committees for specific tasks or at the most add temporary members as you need them.

Who Should Be on the Safety Committee

Deciding who should be on the committee is just as tricky. The simplest thing is to ask for volunteers. But be careful: I have found that the employees who lobby most aggressively to be on a committee often have an agenda that isn't representative of employees. Electing such members often leads to turf battles and in-fighting that limits the committee's overall effectiveness.

On the other hand, I have found that it's a mistake to force employees to serve on a committee if they don't want to. These employees don't perform well and may even undermine the committee's work.

If your employees belong to a union, selection of committee members may be dictated by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. In addition, the federal National Labor Relations Board has ruled it unfair for companies to unilaterally appoint safety committee members. Bottom Line: The company and union need to work together to select an appropriate process and model for choosing members.

Conclusion

Next week, in Part 2 of this series, I'll discuss the second of the four Rs: Responsibilities.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY

The Berlin Wall

August 13, 1961

By Glenn Demby

History's second most famous wall (I would argue that the Great Wall of China is number 1) was built 47 years ago on this date. The tension that led to the erection of the Berlin Wall began almost immediately after World War II when the City of Berlin was divided into four sectors. The Soviets controlled the largest sector covering most of the eastern part of the city.

In response to Stalin's blockade in 1948, the allies airlifted supplies into the western zones, in essence, daring the Soviets to shoot down the planes and fire what would surely be the first shot of World War III. Stalin backed off and lifted the blockade in 1949.

The U.S., British and French unified their zones in 1949. Soon, West Berlin was enjoying enormous economic prosperity and freedom. Skilled workers in East Berlin moved to the west for jobs. By 1961, 2.5 million East Berliners-one sixth of its population-had made the westward migration to escape poverty and oppression. The situation came to a head on August 12, 1961, when more than 4,000 East Berliners crossed over.

It was the final straw. In the early morning hours of August 13, East German troops and workers began tearing up the streets and installing barbed wire astride the border between the sectors. Within days, West Berlin was surrounded by a wall four meters high and 111 kilometers long, dotted with 300 watch towers and 50 bunkers. Those who tried to scale the wall were gunned down and in some cases left to rot dangling on the wire.

The Soviets and East Germans won the battle but ultimately lost the Cold War. The Berlin Wall stemmed emigration but proved a heavy and ultimately fatal political defeat. Although powerless to tear down the Wall, western leaders used it as a propaganda anvil to hammer away at the Soviets. Two of the most famous Cold War speeches of U.S. Presidents were delivered at the base of the Berlin Wall-JFK's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech and Ronald Reagan's 1987 "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Ultimately, Mr. Gorbachev didn't have to tear down the Wall. On November 9, 1989, the people of East Berlin did it for themselves. Throngs of exuberant protesters surrounded the Wall. The border guards faced a stark choice: Open fire or sit back. When it became clear what choice the guards had made, the crowds tore through parts of the Wall and landed in the embraces of their western compatriots. Soon the entire length of the Berlin Wall was under assault from both sides.

For years, the Berlin Wall had served as the very symbol of the Cold War. So it was fitting that the Wall's destruction on that fateful November night of 1989 would effectively mark the ultimate defeat of the Soviet bloc.

JFK SPEECH

Kennedy in Berlin, 1963

June 26, 1963

I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany--real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

RONALD REAGAN SPEECH (EXCERPTS)

Reagan at the Wall, 1987

June 12, 1987

Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city. . . .

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same--still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.

President von Weizsacker has said, "The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed." Today I say: As long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. Yet I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph. . . .

In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.

And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

. . . . As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. . . .

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