EBAC-AR: Safety Committee

Code: EBAC-AR

Revised/Reviewed: 7/15/10

District Safety Officer

The superintendent shall designate a district safety officer. The safety officer shall:

1. Establish a district safety committee, advisory to the safety officer, to implement and monitor the district safety program; 
2. Be responsible for writing and implementing a district safety program (The written program shall include reporting procedures and in-service safety training program.); 
3. Coordinate all matters relating to safety and shall make, or cause to be made, periodic inspections of sites and review with the site safety manager the status of record keeping, reports and meeting agendas; 
4. Maintain liaison with applicable agencies outside the district; 
5. Assist all administrators and department supervisors as necessary in the preparation and implementation of their site safety programs; 
6. Maintain the accident record system; make necessary reports, personally investigate fatal, serious and potentially serious accidents; and check corrective action taken by teachers or other personnel to eliminate causes of accidents; 
7. Establish specific goals for the district’s safety program and evaluate goals and accomplishments on a regular basis.

District Safety Committee

A district safety committee may be established. The primary functions of this committee shall be to assist the district safety officer in planning, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive district safety program and to assist site safety committees in the coordination of district safety activities. Reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that committee members are representative of the district’s various sites where employees work and students and patrons of the district may gather. This committee shall be chaired by the district safety officer. This committee shall meet at least three times each year. The members of the committee may change but shall include the maintenance supervisor or designee.

Site Safety Committees

Site safety committees shall be established at the district office, each school site and such other locations as deemed appropriate by the superintendent to represent the safety and health concerns of district employees and students.

The site safety committee shall be composed of an equal number of employer and employee representatives. When agreed upon by employees and the district, the number of employees on the committee may be greater than the number of district representatives. The committee will consist of no fewer than 4 members.

A reasonable attempt will be made to ensure that committee members represent major work activities (i.e., teacher, custodian, food service worker, administrator).

Employee representatives shall be volunteers or elected by their peers unless there is a provision in the collective bargaining agreement that addresses the selection of employee representatives. Members of the committee shall serve at least a continuous one-year term. Terms shall be staggered to provide continuity. There shall be a chair elected by the site safety committee.

Employee representatives attending safety committee meetings outside regularly scheduled workday shall be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.

The site safety committee will:

1. Hold regular meetings at least once a month except months when quarterly workplace safety inspections are made. This does not exclude other months from site safety committee meetings if more frequent safety inspections are conducted. Quarterly safety committee meetings may be substituted for monthly meetings when the committee’s sole area of responsibility involves low hazard work environments such as the district office; 
2. Provide written agendas for each meeting which shall set the order of business; 
3. Make written records of each meeting which the district shall review and maintain for three years for inspection; 
4. Post and send copies of meeting records to committee members; 
5. Assist in creating a hazard-free work environment by:

          a.     Recommending to the district how to eliminate hazards in the workplace and promoting employee adherence to safe work practices; and

          b.     Using lines of communications to promote cooperative attitudes between all persons involved in the operations of the workplace.

Duties of the site safety committee will include:

1. Establishing procedures for minimum quarterly workplace safety inspections of a safety committee inspection team to locate and identify safety and health hazards. The safety inspection team shall include employer and employee representatives. The team shall document the location and identity of the hazards and make recommendations as to how and when the hazards will be corrected; 
2. Establishing procedures for investigating all significant safety-related incidents including injury accidents, illnesses and deaths for the purpose of recommending corrective action necessary to prevent similar events from recurring; 
3. Evaluating district policies which may affect safety and health in the workplace and making recommendations for changes to existing policies or adoption of new policies; 
4. Evaluating all the accident and illness prevention programs brought to the committee’s attention and making recommendations necessary to make the programs more applicable to the workplace; 
5. Establishing a system whereby the safety committee can obtain information that would help in creating a hazard-free work environment, directly from all persons involved in the operations of the workplace. The information obtained shall be reviewed at the next safety committee meeting; 
6. Establishing procedures for the review of all safety and health inspection reports made by the committee and making necessary recommendations; 
7. Establishing procedures for the review of corrective action taken on the committee’s recommendations or determining the reasons why no corrective action was taken; 
8. Making all reports, evaluations and recommendations of the safety committee a part of the minutes of the safety committee; 
9. Evaluating employee/supervisor training needs.

Degree of Authority

The site safety committee is authorized to make written suggestions to the district safety officer, based on its experiences, inspections and input from other employees, students and district patrons, as appropriate.