The existence of a H&S committee is a legal requirement, but, it does not have to do anything. The duty is upon the management to manage H&S issues. It is like a safety rep, he has the right but not the duty to inspect the workplace. If the management attend H&S committee meetings they are meeting thier duty. If the H&S reps cant be bothered that is it, just close the meeting and carryon.

Bob, What you say is not always the case. The formation of an H&S committee is only a legal requirement in unionised environments (if formally requested by at least 2 union representatives). While its best practice in mixed or non unionised workplaces its not a legal requirement, particularly if the employer is consulting direct with the workforce. We're currently engaged in some workshops, trying to improve worker involvement and have certainly found it can be difficult to get meaningful participation. While 'elected' our reps are generally there by default because non-one else wants the job! Therefore the enthusiasm varies greatly. As a starting point have you looked at INDG232 and HSG 263 (free to download from the HSE website)? You will get some good advice on how to improve worker involvement and make the H&S committee more effective. Don't forget while they are representing the workforce they'll still need to build a good working relationship with the supervisors and managers. How about going back to basics find out what the reps want to do ( they'll all have different ideas so keep to those they can all agree on) give them some ideas from the publications and the first meeting could purley get agreement and submit the proposals to the management team. My advice would be not to go overboard with their role, keep it simple and achievable. As they make progress, the enthusiasm will hopefully grow and you can then develop their role. There's nothing worse than aiming high and failing for dampening the enthusiasm. Good luck

One way that's worked for me to generate discussion is to pick a topic that people are likely to feel is relevant to them (this will depend on your workplace), give an extremely brief outline of some issues (with video clips where possible), and then ask them what they think about it (with a few specific questions to prompt them to get talking such as "Do we have anything like this?")

Just for clarification I am the same Jon B who posted earlier -there have been some problems linking by forum name and my IOSH membership so I have been asked to re-register as JonB. Bob, they say the best way to improve your game is to spar with those of a higher reputation. So with due deference to your resume' and prior history of valuable postings, forgive the impudence but En Garde! You are right that the OP was about getting people to take the committee seriously, hopeful was also asking for ideas to improve matters. I think (or at least hope) my original response to hopeful was useful in this respect. Again, it's slightly off topic but I'm not entirely sure where you are coming from with regards 'rights' as I did not raise them - you did. I made a comment with reference to yours on 'the existence of a safety committee is a legal requirement' as in my opinion it was confusing as not all workplaces are unionised and so the 'legal requirement' is not universally appropriate. You could argue that the OP implies unionisation by using 'safety representatives' and 'safety committee' but I have found that the term 'representative of employee safety' is such a mouthful that people prefer 'safety rep'. Again I have seen 'safety committees' in non unionised workplaces even though they are non explicitly mentioned in the 1996 regulations. I'll step back now are prepare to be run through!! Despite being a union rep 20+ years ago and having experienced unionised and non-unionised environments , I have had to brush off a few cobwebs in the 'reps' regs department which is well timed and topical for the current initiative we are undergoing so thanks for that! JonB

I can relate to where Hopeful is coming from. The Health & Safety commite in my work does not relay any info to the workforce and seem only to rubber stamp the management decisions. As the management seem happy with this as well it does not look likely to change in the near future. Mike

Jonb, I dont disagree with the concept of safety committees. There is a general apathy in such groupings who see it as another meeting without any real purpose. The original regulations were related to workplace with union representation the second set were designed to cover the workplace where there are no unions. The second was a less stringent set of regs that ensured staff concerns were managed in a proactive manner, good for them, because they covered those who did not have the protection of the unions (sic). The main point of the original thread was how do you make the safety reps do the job properly. All I was saying is the employer must make the process available but can't make them follow it. Like leading a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Synical I know but a fact of life.