Oregon OSHA has amended Oregon Administrative Rules for Workplace Safety Committees. The rule change, effective
January 1, 2009, requires nearly every public and private employer, regardless of size, to establish and administer an effective safety committee or conduct safety meetings.
Small employers with 10 or fewer employees not engaged in construction will have until September 19, 2009 to create their safety committee or develop their processes for holding safety meetings.
According to Oregon OSHA, these rules are intended to provide employers with options for formally addressing safety and health issues in their workplaces. Safety committees and safety meetings provide a forum for effectively identifying and responding to safety and health concerns and for communicating the need to resolve those issues by involving all employees.
For a complete summary of new rules for safety committees and safety meetings, see Oregon OSHA's "Fact Sheet" and "Quick Guide" publications at www.orosha.org. In addition, SAIF has several tools to assist Safety Committees in addressing safety and health issues found in the employer safety section at www.saif.com/safety.
New rule highlights include:
Employers with 10 or fewer employees:
Under the amended rules, employers with 10 or fewer employees are required to hold safety meetings for their entire staff or have a safety committee.
- Affected organizations are required to meet monthly, except for those that are primarily engaged in office work, which are allowed to meet quarterly.
- Safety meetings need to include all available employees and at least one employer representative authorized to take corrective action.
- Written minutes are not required if all of the employees were in attendance unless the employer is in utility work, construction or manufacturing industries. In these industries written records must be published and maintained for three years.
Employers with 11 or more employees:
The amended rule maintains most of the existing safety committee requirements for employers with 11 or more employees, including membership criteria, accident investigation procedures, an evaluation of management's accountability system with recommendations for improvement, and the need for quarterly inspections and follow-up. Changes include:
- Committees must have an equal number of employer-selected members and employee-elected or volunteer members, as before. If both parties agree, the committee may have more employee-elected or volunteer members. However, management can now select a supervisor to represent management and employees can elect a supervisor to represent their interests on the committee.
- Employers with multiple locations may choose whether to have one centralized safety committee, or have safety committees at each site. If an employer chooses to have a centralized committee, a written plan is required outlining how safety concerns will be addressed at each location.
Employers in construction Special provisions are included in the rule for companies that send more than half of their employees to construction sites.
- Safety meetings must be held monthly and at the beginning of each job lasting more than one week.
- Subcontractors may meet the intention of the rule by attending their prime contractor's safety meetings.
- Written records of each safety meeting must be maintained for three years.