HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEES

Remember that you are only required to set up a health and safety committee if you have two or more health and safety representatives appointed in your business unit or branch.

If you have appointed two or more health and safety representatives they are all required to be committee members. 







Where the number of employees in a branch does not require the constitution of a safety committee, the duly appointed person is responsible for ensuring that all necessary inspections are carried out timeously –

• * that the Health and Safety File is kept up to date;
  * ?that all incidents which arise have been logged/reported and that all of these have been communicated to Executive Management where necessary;
• * Where applicable, the functions of the health and safety committee must be dealt with by the duly appointed Branch Manager.

Formal communication between management and the employees is a critical activity to ensure employee participation, joint consultation and shared responsibility, thereby reducing workplace risk in a democratic fashion.

* A health and safety committee is a forum for discussing health and safety issues at work

* Committee meetings are held periodically with the health and safety representatives and management representatives present. If your business unit has more than one health and safety representative then you automatically have a committee.

* The committee is required by law to meet at least once every three months but it is far more advisable to meet monthly in order to address health and safety issues and resolve problems as quickly as possible.

The purpose of the health and safety committee is to: 

• - Initiate 
• - Develop 
• - Promote
• - Maintain
• - Review the health and safety policy and programme
  
  Executive Management may also nominate other persons such as management to represent them on a health and safety committee but such nominees may not be more than the number of health and safety representatives designated on that committee.
  
  The members of the health and safety committee may elect a chairperson and determine committee meeting procedures.
  
  All persons nominated by an employer on a health and safety committee shall be designated in writing  for a period determined by the employer.
  
  It shall be the chairperson’s responsibility to: 

• Ensure an agenda is drawn up for each committee meeting 
• Notify all attendees about the committee meeting (date, time, place) 
• Arrange a venue 
• Chair the meeting 
• Ensure minutes are recorded and then captured into the OHS Compliance Solution after the meeting

Click here for a Health and Safety Committee Meeting Agenda

The health and safety committee may meet whenever it is necessary, but the minimum requirement as per the OHS Act is that a committee meets at least once every three months. 

The Company's Executive Management however may require that the committee meet once a month.

The committee members determine the time and place for the meetings, however if 10% or more of the workers put a request for a meeting to an inspector, the inspector may order that such a meeting be held at a time and place which he / she may determine.

Health and safety committees may co-opt persons as advisory members for their knowledge and expertise on health and safety matters. However, an advisory member does not have the right to vote on issues raised at committee meetings.

The health and safety committees may only deal with health and safety matters at the workplace or sections thereof for which such committees have been established. 

Generally, health and safety committees perform the following functions:

* Discuss incidents that occurred in the workplace: a committee must discuss any incident that leads to the injury, illness, or death of any worker and may report about it in writing to the inspector. 

* Discuss recommendations to be made to management: a committee may make recommendations to management pertaining to the health and safety of employees. Where these recommendations do not result in issues being resolved to the satisfaction of the committee or employees, the committee may make recommendations to an inspector. 

* Recordkeeping: a committee must keep record of every recommendation to the employer. Further they are required to report in writing to the Department of Labour, if necessary, on any incident that occurred in the workplace.

Committee members must perform any other functions required of them by regulation or if agreed upon by all committee members. 

The committee must keep minutes of all committee meetings as well as all records of reports made to any inspectors. 

The minutes of the committee meetings must be typed up and distributed to relevant parties within 24 hours of the meeting and a printed copy of the minutes must be retained on file in the Health and Safety File.






The following tips are meant to assist you as a committee member in order to ensure that meetings are successful and productive:

• * As a committee, set health and safety goals and ensure that every committee member understands his / her role and responsibilities. 
   
• * Prepare for committee meetings in advance – read through previous meeting minutes to refresh your memory regarding any outstanding issues and prepare your responses. 
   
• * Ensure that administrative duties and roles are clearly defined and that relevant committee members are aware of their responsibilities in this regard, for example ensure that a committee member is responsible for minute taking in the meeting as well as capturing minutes into the Health and Safety File within 24 hours. 
   
• * Attend every health and safety committee meeting – if safety representatives or management representatives do not attend meetings it sends a message that they are not committed to health and safety in the workplace. Furthermore, feedback to employees regarding health and safety issues will not be effective either. 
   
• * Adhere to the agenda during committee meetings. It is advisable for the chairperson to draw up the agenda a week before the meeting date and distribute it to all committee members for comment. If people want to address something specific during the meeting it can then be added to the agenda. This ensures a shorter and more productive meeting that focuses on key issues. 
   
• * Where necessary or relevant, bring supporting evidence such as pictures or photographs to the meeting to help you make a point and get your message across. 
   

Committee members must be held accountable – they must take full responsibility for their role and responsibilities and take action as required. 

It is a good idea if the a senior member of management sits in on at least one committee meeting every three months – it sends a message to the committee members that health and safety is an issue taken seriously by executive management.