This is the concluding installment of the series on the secrets of successful safety committees. It deals with the fourth and final "R": Results.

The Importance of Results

Committees don't get a free pass just because they serve a noble cause. A committee is like any other part of an organization: It needs to produce results to justify its existence. There have to be successes backing up its work.

Sound Recommendations

To be successful, safety committees must ensure that the recommendations they make are responsible. In other words, recommendations should be:

• Limited to the safety realm;
• Well thought out; and
• Prioritized.

All recommendations should be backed by solid business justification and fit the company's business model and resource constraints. Committee members should be prepared to work with the safety and engineering departments both in the recommendation preparation and implementation process. Recommendations should consider business values like productivity, quality and cost-containment as well as pure safety.

Conversely, the committee should steer clear of outlandish recommendations that don't fit business reality. Such recommendations won't get taken seriously and will only harm the committee's credibility.

By the same token, management needs to understand the need to take committee recommendations seriously. Continually ignoring recommendations will undermine the committee and render it ineffective.

Building Support for Committee Work

Both management and the committee should make an effort to promote awareness throughout the organization of the committee's efforts and successes. Visibility fosters the kind of grass roots support that enhances a committee's effectiveness. In Canada, the provincial OHS laws require employers to post in a conspicuous place the minutes of at least the last committee meeting. U.S. employers would be well advised to do the same because it keeps workers notified of the committee's work.

The minutes are important because they show what the committee has achieved and what it's working on. This reassures people that the committee is active and enables them to track initiatives from start to finish. When management supports committee initiatives, this gets reflected in the minutes. So posting the minutes provides evidence of management's commitment to health and safety.

Conclusion

Effective safety committees can make an important contribution to the health and safety of the workplace. Ineffective safety committees can be a colossal waste of time, money and effort. Each workplace is different and there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all formula. But based on my experience, if you stay true to the principles of the four R's--no matter how big your workplace or what industry it's in--you'll give your committee a fighting chance to succeed.

Editor's Note: You can get any and all of the previous installments of this series from the SafetyXChange archives.

TRAINING BLOOPERS

True stories from the members of SafetyXChange.

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO

"I was teaching a class on safety for supervisors. As part of the presentation there was a video and, since it was a long one, I took the time to catch up on some paperwork. I'd crossed my legs to balance the materials in my lap and looked up periodically to watch the video.

"Suddenly I realized we were at the end of the tape and I quickly stood up to stop it. My foot, however, had slipped inside the facing on my jacket and got stuck. My papers went flying in all directions as I fell backwards, hitting my head on the wall. As I slumped to the ground the entire class rushed to help. I was fine, but deeply embarrassed.

"Now, that alone would have been embarrassing enough, but I was teaching in a casino at the time and, of course, they got the whole thing on tape. It was played for all the employees as an example of how accidents happen. Not a proud moment for a safety professional I can tell you."

Melanie Mornard
Safety, Health & Training Manager
Mornard & Associates

Editor's Note: Thanks, Melanie. Any of you brave folks out there in cyberland got a good story you want to share with SafetyXChange? Send it to me, glennd@bongarde.com. And don't worry. We won't use your name unless you tell us it's okay.

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