Criteria for Safety Committees

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Establishment of a district safety committee should follow the guidelines listed. Criteria will reflect the diversity of the SDIC members.

A. The Safety Committee should:

  1.  Be composed of at least one representative from major departments and should not exceed nine members. Members of this committee should come from the membership of department safety committees, if they exist, such as school safety committees, transportation, maintenance and/or food service committees. The chairperson of the district committee should be management staff member selected by the superintendent or by the members of the safety committee.
  2. Meet at least six times during the fiscal year, or as needed.
  3. Develop a written agenda for each meeting.
  4. Take and maintain minutes of each meeting. Minutes should be kept on file for SDIC review if necessary.

B. Employee Representatives should:

  1.  Be permitted to take reasonable time from work without loss of pay or benefits while on the committee. The administration should schedule committee meetings during normal working hours and provide coverage for members accordingly.
  2. Serve a continuous term of at least one year to be elected/reelected before October 1.

C. Minimum Responsibilities of the Safety Committee:

  1. Evaluate and make written recommendations of employers’ accident and prevention program.
  2. Review self-inspections or inspections performed by assigned consultant(s)
  3. Review monthly activity reports including loss runs. The committee will review all accidents and activity reports. The goal of the committee is to identify ways to prevent recurrence of these events, not to assign blame or become involved in disciplinary matters.
  4. Discuss routine and special efforts to assure safety awareness in the various departments. The committee will produce written reports that identify specific programs implemented to reduce/prevent losses, problems with implementation of programs and future program goals.
  5. Review all applicable training records, safety training programs for their effectiveness and recommend in-service training programs.