Health and safety committees Guidance

A key element of a successful health and safety management system is gaining the involvement of employees. Whilst in the UK there is only a mandatory requirement for a health and safety committee where there are trade union appointed health and safety representatives where there are these appointees, they have a statutory right to form a committee. This committee then has certain statutory rights. However, a well organised committee can be a valuable tool in getting employees, whether union members or not, involved.

Legal requirements
Where there is a trade union recognised at a business the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 give the union the right to appoint health and safety representatives. These reps. have certain statutory rights: To form a committee. To have time off for training. To be consulted on changes which may affect health and safety. To be involved in incident investigations To investigate complaints by an employee. Carry out workplace inspections. Be involved in discussions with Inspectors. Where there is no recognised trade union the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply which require the employer to establish channels for consulting the workforce about matters affect health and safety. The employees as a whole have a right to elect representatives of employee safety. They have many, but not all of the same rights. Details of the rights and duties are given in www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg232.pdf.

Best practice
Even where there is no statutory requirement to appoint a health and safety committee it is very good practice as it provides a good channel for upward and downward communication. When establishing a committee the following points should be taken into account: Having a senior management representative as a member creates a direct channel to the people who can provide resources. The health and safety manager should be a member of the committee but should provide advice rather than drive the committee meetings.

 A formal agenda should be prepared and followed. The meeting should be minuted and actioned. The committee should be proactive rather than becoming a forum for reporting hazards. Committee members should be provided with training on how to carry out their duties. Meetings should not be so frequent that actions from the previous meeting will not have been completed or so infrequent that the committee is ignored. Quarterly meetings are often appropriate.