Motivating Involvement
The safety committee should be composed of both managers and employees who understand its role, purposes, and activities and are interested in its success.
Most companies experience varying degrees of difficulty generating enthusiasm for the safety committee. We’ll look at the reasons for this and then discuss some solutions.
Safety Committees Mean Involvement
Involving your employees in an activity such as a safety committee that directly affects their safety and health is the right thing to do. Below are reasons why it's also the smart thing to do.
- Line workers are in frequent contact with potential safety and health hazards. They have a vested interest in effective protection programs.
- Experience has demonstrated that line workers can be highly valuable problem-solvers.
- Group decisions have the advantage of the group's wider field of experience.
- Research shows that employees are more likely to support and use programs in which they have had input.
- Employees encouraged to contribute their ideas, and those ideas are taken seriously are more satisfied and productive on the job.
- Owners and managers have a solid grasp of the company’s overall operations. On the other hand, line workers probably have a more detailed knowledge of each operation and task at your worksite.
- Employees who understand the hazards associated with workplace operations will realize that they have the most to gain from preventing or controlling exposure to those hazards. Knowledgeable and aware employees tend to be safe workers and good sources of ideas for better hazard prevention and control.
Perceptions Drive Reality
Many reasons might explain why both managers and employees have no interest in a safety committee. What drives that lack of interest?
Perceptions that might cause a lack of interest in the safety committee include:
- Why join the safety committee? Who cares?
- Safety committee members are "volunteered" against their will;
- Meetings are boring and a total waste of my time;
- Safety committee members aren't properly trained;
- Safety committee duties would cut into my busy schedules;
- One person dominates all of the meetings;
- The safety committee never gets anything done;
- Safety committee meetings end up just being gripe sessions; and
- The safety committee is just a pack of snitches.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-1. Why might employees generally have no interest in being involved in a safety committee?
You forgot to answer the question!