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707 Effective Safety Committee Meetings
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Roles & Responsibilities

What Role Do You Play?

Safety committee members need to understand the role of the safety committee and the role they personally play as a member of the committee.

Image of a man wearing a shirt that says 'Know your roll'
We all play many roles.

Unless the safety committee's role is understood by all members, it's difficult to effectively carry out assigned responsibilities which achieve the safety committee's purpose.

Roles Describe Who We Are

The term, role, describes who we are. At home, we may play the role of a spouse, coach, father, or mother. At work, our position largely determines the role we are expected to play.

As you learned in course 701 Effective Safety Committee Operations, the most effective safety committee performs the role of an internal consultant team to the employer. On the other hand, the least effective safety committee will function as an internal, fault-finding, cop squad.

It's essential to understand your role if you want to design the most effective safety committee meetings. Can you imagine what a meeting would look like if members believed they were all junior OSHA inspectors that had to control things? The meeting would be very different than one in which the safety committee acted like a consultant team.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-1. What is the most effective role of a safety committee?