Im at a College and we have them once per term so 2 or 3 times per year, i ask for a cross section of representatives from all areas including managment and support staff as well as union representation, the unions have ellected just one peron to be their spokes person for all the unions which makes it easier.  I also ask that if somone cannot attend that they send a represenative from their area that way you get diffferent people involved each time.

We always talk / review the last period and the issues and accident stats, how to resolve any issues or prevent accidents happening in future then look at forthcoming or current problems and how we might want to address the issue and share ideas. If you can get everyone to share ideas then they feel engaged and that they have contributed.

I always ask those attending to send in advance if there is anything they would like me to cover in the meeting along with the proposed agenda and its also a good opportunity to deliver a short training session  and i always end with a round the table discussion so people can talk freely about issues in their area.

The HSE have a great link on the HSE website

http://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/howtosetup.htm

Also change the location or venue and offer refreshments as people feel more relaxed and chat more openly.  You may want to also consider bringing in outside companies to present at the meeting to update on various issues as a guest speaker.

Remember the commitee is there not to lay blame but as a panel to resolve problems togother and as a Chair if they cannot agree i either defer or i have the right to make the final decision based on the dicussions and you dont need to make any decision there and then.

We normally hold 2 a year (low risk environment and can increase if there is a specific issue to addressed). The agenda is sent out the week before along with any documentation and includes;

- Minutes of previous meeting

- Incident report summary

- Policy and Procedures

- Training update

- Property update

- A.O.B

We also have a separate committee that deals with Health and Wellbeing which meets 2/3 times a year and various other subgroups covering equality but the H&S committee tends to cover the bigger issues such as stress surveys.

Meetings are scheduled to last 2 hours but usually finish before then (lasting about 1.5 hours). As they aren't held too often, participation isn't an issue as Chairperson keeps it moving along.

Agenda items are pretty standard. Ensure that the Committee has some power. The killer tip for getting attendance is to provide decent / tea / coffee / choccy biccys or even ------------ bacon sarnies! Seriously people from the shop floor need to fee like welcome guests......another great tip is to have a seating plan, to break up argumentative types...............

Hi Waz

PM sent!  I'd also appreciate a copy of your WI as I'm about to relaunch our H&S committee, and struggling to get a decent level of engagement.

Cheers!

Mick

Something that seems to be getting overlooked. You need the meeting to get results. If people feel that their views are listened to and acted upon they are far more likely to become engaged than bribery ;)