Employers Rule Change: Safety Committees or Meetings

According to Occupational Safety and Health Division (OSHA) the purpose of a safety committee is to bring workers and managers together to achieve and maintain a safe, healthful workplace. The benefit of an effective safety committee is finding solutions to problems that cause workplace accidents, illnesses, and injuries. And fewer accidents, injuries and illnesses mean lower workers' compensation claims costs and insurance rates.

In 2007 legislative changes removed the specific and detailed requirements for the formation and conduct of safety committees and authorized Oregon OSHA to develop rules that provide options for small employers. These proposed rules maintain most of the existing safety committee requirements for larger employers. For employers with 10 or fewer employers, mobile worksites, or with primarily office environments, they will now have the option to hold safety meetings with a significant reduction in paperwork burden.

Currently only companies with 11 or more employees or businesses considered higher hazard are required to have safety committees. Restaurants do not fall within the "higher hazard" category. OSHA stakeholders met last year and decided to extend the safety committee requirements onto businesses with less then 11 employees as well. The new rule became effective as of Jan. 1, 2009, for large employers and employers in the construction industry. On Sept. 19, 2009 the rule will take effect for small employers (ten or fewer employees). According to the Oregon Employment Department, small businesses employing ten or fewer employees represent 80 percent of the state's employers.

The new rule also added an option for holding less-formal safety meetings instead of having an official safety committee. In regards to restaurants, the safety meeting option still requires monthly meetings but does not require minutes to be taken unless employees are absent. However, all employees must attend safety meetings, including the owner. With the schedules and shifts of restaurants and their employees, ORA suggests having an actual safety committee instead of holding safety meetings. However, if you have 10 or fewer employees (including seasonal and temporary employees) for more than half of the year your business is eligible to use the safety meetings option.

Safety Committee Requirements:
If you have 20 or fewer employees, your committee needs at least 2 members and if you have more than 20 employees, you committee needs at least 4 members. Your safety committee must have an equal number of employer-selected members and employee-elected (or volunteer) members.

Your safety committee will need to do the following:

• Meet monthly.
• Keep a record of each meeting for three years.
• Conduct workplace safety and health inspections at least quarterly.
• Work with you (the owner) to establish accident investigation procedures that will identify and correct hazards.
• Establish a system for employees to report hazards.
• Establish a procedure for reviewing inspection reports.
• Evaluate all accident and incident investigations.
• Make safety committee meeting minutes available to all employees.
• Recommend ways to strengthen your business's overall safety effort.

Accurate meeting minutes are important because they document the committee's accomplishments. Minutes are considered records of a companies safety committee and will be asked for should a company be inspected. The person who has the responsibility of taking meeting minutes should be able to grasp the main points of a discussion and record them quickly.

Meeting minutes should include the following:

• A brief summary of the discussion of each topic
• A copy of committee reports, evaluations, and recommendations
• A copy of management's response to committee recommendations

OSHA offers no-cost on-site safety and health assistance to help Oregon employers recognize and correct workplace safety and health problems. Additionally consultations are provided in the areas of safety, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, occupational safety and health programs, assistance to new businesses, the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP), and the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

More information on electing a chair, determining the best safety committee option, preparing an agenda, identifying workplace hazards etc... can be found at www.orosha.org. ORA will continue to track the safety committee requirements and keep restaurateurs informed on how to stay in compliance with these regulations. Although some restaurants are not affected until September 2009, it's good to refresh the current requirements and prepare if a safety committee will soon be mandatory at your establishment.