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Mersey  
#1 Posted : 01 October 2019 08:03:34(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Mersey

I'm in a new role at the moment and wanted to try something a bit different from the usual Safety Meeting agenda. It will be my first meeting with the team so there are no previous minutes (from me) to discuss.

Meeting scheduled for 1.5 hours on a monthly basis.

The site do manage some day to day safety issues at the morning meeting (daily) ones that can't be resolved are escalated up the chain.

  • Accidents / Near Miss / Safety Observations (2018 V 2019 YTD)
  • Open Actions from
    • Previous Audits / Legionella / Fire / DSEAR 
  • Monthly Campaign
    • STF / WORKING AT HEIGHT / COSHH etc...
  • Training Requirements identified
  • Changes in legislation
  • Up and coming projects

I don't want to bore them to tears does anyone have any good ideas how to get the management team more involved?

I want them to start doing SMT safety tours and make the meetings more fun. 

RayRapp  
#2 Posted : 01 October 2019 08:50:34(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
RayRapp

It is a common problem of how to make h&s meeting more...er, interesting. It does depend on how much time you have to play with and how receptive your audience is. In some roles I did a short presentation on a topical subject in order to prompt a discussion. The truth of the matter is most SMT members just want to the 'nuts and bolts' and get out as quick as they can! 

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Mersey on 01/10/2019(UTC)
A Kurdziel  
#3 Posted : 01 October 2019 09:13:54(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

I have been doing these sorts of meeting for years (first was way back in the 20th century) and they do get a bit boring. For today’s H&S meeting I have suggested that we theme it. Today we will be looking at risk assessment, who does them, what proformas to use and who is responsible for making sure that the controls are being applied.  Next one will be competence and why it is more than just training.  

Edited by user 02 October 2019 08:59:07(UTC)  | Reason: spelings

thanks 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
Mersey on 01/10/2019(UTC)
johnc  
#4 Posted : 01 October 2019 18:35:52(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
johnc

Why not carry out safety tours alternating with the meeting. Following the tour the manager for the area toured has to report to the following month's meeting on what actions have been taken to address the issues found. This makes sure managers are involved and also drives them to improve matters so they look better next time around. The meeting itself should include all of what you said in your post. Worked for me in chemicals, brewing and local authority.
thanks 2 users thanked johnc for this useful post.
Mersey on 01/10/2019(UTC), Jordang21 on 02/10/2019(UTC)
Acorns  
#5 Posted : 02 October 2019 21:08:07(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Acorns

Have to agree with #2 RayRapp about set meetings and the the OP says the meeting is an hour and half. I might set that as a max but could be shorter depending on the content. Keep it on target, to the agendas and not be distracted by irrelevance. If you have 30 mins of debate and they know they have 90 mins to fill, that’s exactly what they’ll do. It’s like a film review. “ great 45 min film compressed into two and a half hours”!
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Mersey on 08/10/2019(UTC)
Natasha.Graham  
#6 Posted : 03 October 2019 09:13:18(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Natasha.Graham

I agree with all of the above, but also try and make it more interactive if you can.

So if there is something they need to know, try and turn it into an interactive session - for example, we've just completed an annual conference where there was a game to try get people to think about embodied carbons and how much carbon footprint we use in manufacturing certain things.  It took a max of 15 minutes and people gained more out of that than being told what the figures were.  

Can be short and sweet but still get the message across.

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Mersey on 08/10/2019(UTC)
AndrewFM94  
#7 Posted : 03 October 2019 12:07:43(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
AndrewFM94

I also agree that it's difficult to make safety meetings more interesting, we try and make it more appealing to the other managers by asking them to bring a 'safety moment' and deliver it to the group. This can be site specific or just a general safety moment.

Subjects such as; wearing your work lanyard whilst driving, driving in cold/wet weather (pretty topical at the moment) cutting the grass in flip flops & so on...

If you alternate it between managers and give them enough notice this will ensure they are more involved with the meetings. 

Also, just ask whether they have any concerns or gripes which they wish to raise.

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Mersey on 08/10/2019(UTC)
Dodger  
#8 Posted : 03 October 2019 14:14:03(UTC)
Rank: New forum user
Dodger

 I agree its hard sometime to gain any interest unless it affects a member of the committee, i think all members have a duty to take part and to do this try asking each and every member if anything has happened in their dept over the last month or since the last meeting that they know of. this focusses them on their department but also gets them involved in whats happening around the business as a whole, if they dont know of an incident in their area it can be embarassing but by the next meeting they will know all thats happened and will want to show they know and what corrective action they've taken. they may even get their teams to look for issues that can be highlighted/reported. This type of meeting will also highlight any trends or department weaknesses that are not quite right or may need help. it doesnt take long for all the team to be keen to play an active part. I always dictate that its not the HSO's job to run around finding/dealing with issues but that they are the gatekeeper for receiving and giving advice or an avenue to be able to log any failings which are reported at these meetings for discussion and remedies. Everyone has a responsibility when it comes to H&S

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Mersey on 08/10/2019(UTC)
Zyggy  
#9 Posted : 03 October 2019 16:09:47(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Zyggy

A number of years ago I invited along an external lawyer who also happened to be a Deputy Coroner to give his take on how serious things could be if it all went wrong. The points he made could easily have been made by me, but hearing it from someone else made quite an impact! After the speaker had left the CE pointed at me & then each Director in turn & told them in no uncertain terms that the responsibility for H&S did not rest with me but each & everyone of them! It did cost more than a few pence, but it was worth it....for a short while!!

Edited by user 03 October 2019 16:11:26(UTC)  | Reason: Typo

thanks 2 users thanked Zyggy for this useful post.
Mersey on 08/10/2019(UTC), H Maryam on 09/10/2019(UTC)
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