Every business is vulnerable to risk, making it critical for your company to have a safety committee in place to identify and minimize those risks.
“The main purpose of having a risk management team is to essentially create a safe environment for a company’s employees and visitors,” says Jonathan Theders, CPIA, who serves as president and chief operating officer of Clark-Theders Insurance Agency Inc. and CTIA Risk Consulting. “It provides an overarching look at the safe practices of an organization.”
Smart Business spoke with Theders about how to create a risk management team — also known as a safety committee — and what that committee should do once it is in place.
Why should companies consider creating a safety committee?
It’s important to realize that a safer work environment and a culture that promotes all aspects of safety are going to be more productive. There is a gamut of positive influences that result from having an effective culture of safety.
Everybody thinks that they’re safe, and no one intentionally creates an unsafe work environment. But when you charge people with looking outside the box at what could potentially cause something down the road, it’s amazing what issues show up in even the greatest of companies.
What are the keys to assembling a solid risk management team?
In order to be effective, team members must be receptive to new ideas. They have to be familiar with the processes and the way things operate. They have to be interested in safety and health issues. They have to be able to express others’ ideas; it’s really important to not only recognize and understand them but to be able to communicate and express them.
An effective team member also has to be interested in the needs of the entire work force. A safety committee is not just about me and my job; it’s about the business as a whole. That’s why you have to visit other departments. When you see things from an outsider perspective, you often have a different perspective than if you’re living it every day.
Also, team members have to be willing to compromise, because you can’t be 100 percent set in your ways all the time. You have to be able to work as a team to come to a consensus.
Bringing in a third party can also be effective. It’s amazing how much information a third party can get out of employees — not because employees don’t want to talk to management, but a third party just brings a neutral factor to the equation.
How do you determine who should lead the team?
There needs to be a chairperson and co-chairperson. One should be from management and one should be an employee, in particular a union member if the work force has a union. The leaders serve as coordinators and must possess talents in order to communicate effectively. Everybody should be on an equal playing field. Everyone’s ideas should be heard, and nobody should be the complete ringleader.
In addition, some members may be rotated on an annual basis. Rotating through the leadership gives people who might not normally have that role in daily life a great opportunity to take charge on a committee and brings in fresh ideas and new directions.