title: Training for an effective health and safety committee in a small business setting.
abstract: Health and safety committees are often heralded as a key element of successful health and safety programs, and are thought to represent a means of engaging workers in health and safety efforts. While the understanding of the factors that make these committees effective is growing, there are few resources for how to assist committees in developing these characteristics. This paper describes one approach to creating and implementing a training intervention aimed at improving health and safety committee function at one multilingual worksite. Short-term impacts were evaluated via questionnaire and qualitative observations of committee function. Results indicated high satisfaction with the training as well as modest increases in participation, cooperation, role clarity, and comfort with health and safety skills among committee members. The committee also made considerable achievements in establishing new processes for effective function. Similar interventions may be useful in other workplaces to increase health and safety committee success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington's.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crollard
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences and Risk Science Center, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Neitzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington's.
authors.forename: Carlos F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.affiliation: Quantification of Exposure for Occupational Epidemiology, University of Washington.
authors.forename: Noah S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Seixas
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000193:education*; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D058012:Small Business / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*
keywords: health and safety committee; safety training; training evaluation