PDFWAC 296-78-530

Safety and health committee plan.

(1) All employers of eleven or more employees must have a designated safety committee composed of employer and employee elected members.
(a) The terms of employee-elected members must be a maximum of one year. Should a vacancy occur on the committee, a new member must be elected prior to the next scheduled meeting.
(b) The number of employer-selected members must not exceed the number of employee-elected members.
(2) The safety committee must have an elected chairperson.
(3) The safety committee must be responsible for determining the frequency of committee meetings.
Note:
If the committee vote on the frequency of safety meetings is stalemated, the division's regional safety educational representative may be consulted for recommendations.
(a) The committee must be responsible for determining the date, hour and location of the meetings.
(b) The length of each meeting must not exceed one hour except by majority vote of the committee.
(4) Minutes of each committee meeting must be prepared and filed for a period of at least one year and be made available for review by noncompliance personnel of the division of industrial safety and health.
(5) Safety and health committee meetings must address the following:
(a) A review of the safety and health inspection reports to assist in correction of identified unsafe conditions or practices.
(b) An evaluation of the accident investigations conducted since the last meeting to determine if the cause of the unsafe acts or unsafe conditions involved was properly identified and corrected.
(c) An evaluation of the accident or illness prevention program with the discussion of recommendation for improvement where indicated.
(d) The attendance must be documented.
(e) The subject(s) discussed must be documented.
(6) All employers of ten or less employees and employers of eleven or more employees where the employees are segregated on different shifts or in widely dispersed locations in crews of ten or less employees, may elect to have foreman-crew meetings in lieu of a safety and health committee plan provided:
(a) Foreman-crew safety meetings be held at least once a month, however, if conditions require, weekly or semimonthly meetings must be held to discuss safety problems as they arise.
(b) All items under subsection (5) of this section must be covered.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, and 49.17.060. WSR 17-16-132, § 296-78-530, filed 8/1/17, effective 9/1/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.040, 49.17.050 and 49.17.240. WSR 81-18-029 (Order 81-21), § 296-78-530, filed 8/27/81.]