Is your Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) part of the organization’s strategic plan for meeting goals and objectives? If it’s not, it should be. An effective JHSC has the ability to have a positive impact on your organization’s bottom line!
What Makes a JHSC Effective?
An effective JHSC is one that’s engaged. How do you get the JHSC engaged and running effectively?
- Train All Members
JHSC members who know what to do, who know their rights and responsibilities as certified JHSC members, and who have a solid understanding of the basic foundations of workplace safety will naturally function more efficiently than those who never received proper training. It’s recommended that all JHSC members receive training – not just the minimum number required under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- Make the Most of Meetings
Make JHSC meetings dynamic in order to maximize the efficiency of the JHSC. Set agendas and ensure that all members have adequate preparation time. Use the time in the meetings to go over recommendations and then brainstorm potential solutions, recommendations, and controls. Inviting new ideas will increase the JHSC’s ability to innovate, and it will result in more efficient hazard recognition and better controls.
- Act on Recommendations
A JHSC is only as effective as its ability to drive change. A JHSC that is making the same recommendations over and over with no results is not an effective JHSC. An effective JHSC inspires positive change in the workplace; change that is easily identified and recognized by the workers the JHSC represents. - Support the JHSC
The JHSC needs support to be effective. Support can be shown through leadership by example. When top management implements and follows the JHSC’s recommendations, workers follow the example. A good attitude toward safety results in a positive safety culture.
The JHSC Contributes to Success
Having an effective and trained JHSC needs to be part of your company’s long-term success strategy because workplaces with effective JHSCs experience fewer workplace accidents and illnesses, which saves:
- Money on insurance premiums
- The cost of having to replace/repair damaged equipment and/or property
- Loss of revenue associated with lost productivity due to lost-time injuries
- The cost of lost productivity resulting from decreased morale caused by having to work in an unsafe workplace
Having an effective JHSC in place has a positive impact on your organization’s safety culture, which is invaluable. A positive safety culture helps increase your company’s ability to meet the performance goals and objectives required to be successful industry leaders and increase the bottom line.
Best Safety Training Can Help
Best Safety Training is a Chief Prevention Officer (CPO)-approved provider of JHSC training. We offer in-house and on-site JHSC Part One, Part Two, and Refresher training. Let the Best Safety Training company take care of your training needs.
To learn more, contact us. Or, call 226.777.7385 or visit us 24/7 on the web at bestsafetytraining.ca.