Tips and ideas for your safety committee
Tips for your annual review
An annual review of your safety program does not need to be done all at once. Consider creating a road map by choosing 1-2 topics per month to evaluate.
- First start with your joint health and safety committee review, WorkSafeBC has a Joint Health and Safety Committee Evaluation Tool and Guide to help.
- Then use the headings from your safety program to divide the topics into months - after a year your entire safety program will be evaluated!
Your bulletin board
Your bulletin board (physical or digital) is a valuable resource for providing information to all workers.
- Post the location of first aid, how to report an incident or injury, meeting minutes, as well as the names of your sites committee members.
- Other helpful resources on your bulletin board can include:
- Call to action that engages all workers to think and work safely
- Site specific health and safety resources
- Current education and training opportunities
- Employee and Family Assistance Program information
More bulletin board tips
Keep it updated, make it worth checking out. Assign someone who has a creative flair to keep it looking it’s best!
- Post a funny health and safety quote, cartoon or posting WorkSafeBC’s What's Wrong With This Photo?
- Post small contests or challenges, see past Safety Den entries and Safety Innovations Database for ideas.
- Consider an electronic bulletin board, with regular reminders about access and updates.
Recruit committee members
Want workers to join the health and safety committee or engage in health and safety?
- Brainstorm reasons why there is low interest for workers to join your health and safety committee.
- Do all workers understand what a health and safety committee does?
- Are the meeting dates at inaccessible or inconvenient times?
- Highlight some of the benefits: opportunity for their working group to be at the table, offering solutions to health and safety issues; additional training, job enlargement.
Engage ALL workers!
Safety is not just the responsibility of the employer or the safety committee, engage all workers!
- Support natural leaders throughout your organization in ways that leverage their natural abilities to build trust, increase buy-in and positively influence your workplace health and safety culture.
- Brainstorm creative ideas with a focus on practical site specific health and safety ideas.
- Engage workers in workplace safety through fun and comradery. Consider what innovation ideas you’ve implemented in your workplace and create an application for next year’s Safety Den.
More tips to engage workers
Safety is not just the responsibility of the employer or the safety committee, engage all workers!
- Let workers use their hidden talents and skills beyond their primary roles
- Take turns training: use our Safety Huddles or send a worker to one of our health and safety train-the-trainer courses. Explore the courses we offer through our Learning Space
- Show your appreciation for your healthcare assistants – send them to one of our Hearts and Hands events!
Check back soon for more tips and ideas to help your Joint Occupational Health Safety Committee!
