Strategies for an Effective Safety Committee

1. Strategies for an Effective Safety Committee Lynn Ferris Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering University of New South Wales

2. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering Safety committee started in 1999 Secretary since inception

4. Problems • “A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.” • Sir Barnett Cocks (1907 - 1989) • “The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility.” • Brooks Atkinson (1894 - 1984), Once Around the Sun, 1951 • Time • Money • Knowledge • Bureaucracy

5. Change “Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.” Saul Alinsky (1909–1972), U.S. radical activist. “The Purpose,” Rules for Radicals (1971).

6. Universities • Unique institutions • Diversity and personality – lots of it • Research – no guidelines

7. Documentation People Training Planning Inspections Systems Keys to Success

8. People Get the right people on the committee. Who cares about safety in your area? Who has to implement safety? Who gets things done? Who trains people?

9. Benefits “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.” Anne Landers (1918 - 2002) “Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.” Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945) • Skills • Career • Growth area

10. Power to the People

11. Training and Planning • Get trained, know your rights/powers • OHS training for • Supervisors • Staff • Students • Work place training, e.g. ergonomics

12. Planning • Get your aims together • Short term • Long term • Consult – open meetings • Allocate resources • Training • Time • Equipment • Money

13. Inspections “A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.” Rita Mae Brown “Don't invade Iraq. Inspections work, war won't.” Martin Sheen

14. Where to start? “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Peter Drucker

15. Spring Clean • Include the whole area • Audit your chemicals, equipment, etc. • Throw stuff out

16. Safety Committee Biru Jane Tom Injar Lee Sanir Delegate and Organise Divide and conquer • Physical area • Activity Who is doing the work? Who is at risk? Responsibility to the Responsible

17. Document System • Proof • Document document document If it’s not on paper, it didn’t happen If you can’t find the paper, it doesn’t exist • Committee minutes • Agenda • Actions • Who’s responsible? • Time frame?

18. Systems Individual Standard Operating Procedures Risk Assessments

19. Systems Individual folders • Training • History • Supervisors • Authorisation • All Risk Assessments

20. SOP • Standard Operating Procedures • Training • Documented • Available • Reviewed

21. Risk Assessments • Key to OHS • Every person, every activity - covered by a risk assessment • Tracking code, e.g.040506LF • Document training in Risk Assessments • Supervisor must sign

22. Carrot Compliance • How do you get people fill out forms? • Link it with something they want

23. Purchasing

24. Chemical Database

25. Stick Compliance • Education • Due diligence –frighten them • Fines $$$$ • Appeal to a higher power • Compliance policy – get one “My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really go on to be scared.” P. J. Plauger, Computer Language, March 1983

26. Crime and Punishment Versus Caring and Sharing Authority

27. Long Term Goals • Support from senior management • OHS budget • Centralised paper • Manage individual work loads • Acknowledgement of achievements

28. Progress “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” Hyman Rickover (1900 - 1986)

29. Change is Possible You know how far you have come by looking at where you started 1961 – Push for seatbelt laws 1973 – Seat belts front and rear now law Today Could you put a child in a car without a seat belt?

31. Success Factors • People • Education • System • Involvement • Time

32. Acknowledgements • Kathryn Noble – masters report • The evaluation of the effectiveness of the Occupational Health and Safety Consultation Structure that was Implemented in a large New South Wales University 1999

33. Acknowledgements • Peter Slowiaczek – Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering UNSW. Lab Manager – Design of forms and access databases. • Safety committee at GSBME • TechNet UNSW

34. What works for you?