safetyman2010 I've been involved with many safety committees over many years in different organisations. As I'm a little tired I've offloaded things that have worked in different organisations or phrased questions that may act as a prompt. They are all mixed up and in no logical order. The questions are not directed to you specifically just prompters. Clearly you may already have some of the measures in place and some cover ground identified by other posts. Hope there is something that might help. 1. Have the most senior person in the organisation as the chair and the senior worker rep alternating the chair. 2. Persuade the most senior executive to publicly support the reps and state how important the role of the worker representative is in the company – written statements are helpful: set out the agreed role of the reps; identify what support the company will give them and what is expected of them; and ensure the legal rights to consultation etc are well understood by all managers. This should be agreed with the reps first!! 3. Convince the organisation it is in their interests to support worker reps with more than words – i.e. training, paid release to work jointly with managers and others to solve targeted problems. 4. Link joint manager/worker rep training to both health and safety plans – let them be part of the planning process? - and ensure all understand what the organisation is trying to achieve by its existence – producing things, deliver a service etc. Don’t assume people know – make sure they know. 5. Ask committee members what they want from the committee. 6. If people raise issues that should be dealt with in the normal reporting procedures, refer them to the relevant manager to sort out. If issues are being reported because reporting procedures are deficient, sort the reporting procedures out so day to day issues are resolved where they should be. Achieving an efficient reporting system may become the first item on an agenda if it is a problem. 7. Identify what each person thinks their role is as a prelude to getting common agreement about the objectives of the committee and each individual’s role in meeting those objectives. 8. State clearly what the objectives of the committee are. Brief and train committee members on main polices. [I have been in many safety committee meetings over the years: I have never been in a one where the main policy documents were available for reference despite it being clear on numerous occasions that several committee members were not aware of key policies including on some occasions, the chair of the meeting!!] 9. Train committee members to be committee members, with trying to meet the agreed committee objectives as an aspiration! 10. Get a decent budget or direct funding line so you don’t have to keep going cap in hand to budget holders. This allows the committee to support working groups, fund outside specialists, develop proactive ideas etc. 11. Ask each committee member to prepare a report about what they think the committee’s role is; how they view their role in the committee; and what are they looking to get out of it. Give them time to prepare it, offer help and support and then have one meeting for each to report back and use this as the basis for a discussion on ‘a new approach’. 12. You could do a work group type activity of splitting people up to consider the strengths/weaknesses of the current arrangements and how it could be improved. 13. Be creative about the agenda. Look for items that might be of interest that are outside the organisation but have relevance to the aspects of the committee's work. 14. Help establish a process where committee members take responsibility for action, with appropriate support. 15. Use small, resourced work groups to seek practical solutions to targeted problems. Get workers and supervisors involved with such groups. 16. Have an item on the agenda 'What improvements in health and safety have occurred since the last meeting'? 17. How does the work done since the last meeting help the organisation achieve its health and safety plan for the year? Is there a plan? 18. What progress has been made on the top 5, 4 whatever, H&S priorities/problems since the last meeting? 19. How can we do better than we are doing now? 20. Is there any organisation outside who can help us meet our objectives? Can we get someone in to inspire us? 21. How many workers have we actively engaged on health and safety and how is this measured? Do any of them know of the committee’s existence? 22. Why are we here? 23. Who is responsible for each action item and how do we ensure action is taken between meetings? 24. Does the board or most senior managers review committee meetings: not just the minutes but the effectiveness of the committee to meet its objectives. 25. Does anyone ever get thanked for doing something useful? 26. How are the issues of the committee effectively communicated to all the workforce?: observation – you tend not to be trampled on in the rush by massed workers desperate to read committee minutes when they are first put on the noticeboard. 27. Have a work programme – annual? – that is agreed by members, with priorities, responsible individuals identified and charged with delivering action. 28. Focus on key priorities. I once read the annual priorities of a company that – on reading the last one – added up to 102 items. No prioritisation there then!! 29. Have ‘visualisation’ boards in the meeting room or appropriate location so that actions are written down and progress regularly updated at fixed times so that progress between meetings can actually be monitored by all. Large plasma screens could be used to make it more visually appealing. 30. Be a ‘progress chaser’ in between meetings to those with responsibility for delivering action. 31. Use minutes to record key decisions and action to be taken by whom with deadlines. Do not be tempted to use them to rewrite War and Peace. Minutes should help the committee to meet with its objectives by offering a regular progress record of key items. If people outside of the committee need to know about an issue, communicate with them directly. 32 Use a cascading briefing system so that within a day or two of the meeting all key points are briefed directly to all workers in face to face meetings. In numerous communication surveys, face-to-face meetings are people's preferred option in receiving information. Sadly I have more but I need some sleep. If you would like further items please feel free to send me a message. Cheers. Nigel ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ