If you have already completed “A. Introductory Activity: What’s Happening In Your Workplace That Is Causing Workers to Be Injured, Made Ill and/or Stressed On Their Jobs,” refer to the list of issues, problems and concerns collected. If you have not already completed that activity, do so now.
After referring to the list of issues/problems and concerns collected from “A. Introductory Activity: What’s Happening In Your Workplace That Is Causing Workers to Be Injured, Made Ill and/or Stressed On Their Jobs,” ask participants to think about the effectiveness of their joint labor-management health and safety committee regarding these particular issues, problems and concerns that they have listed. How effective has the joint labor-management health and safety committee been in recognizing this particular set of issues as problems, and how effective has the committee been in addressing (eliminating or reducing) them?
Hand out Activity “Judging the Effectiveness of Your Joint Labor-Management Health and Safety Committee”
Read and explain the Activity Worksheet to the participants. Ask them to use the worksheet to rank the effectiveness of their joint labor-management committee. Those who feel that their joint labor-management health and safety committee is not effective at all in addressing the issues they added to the list of problems and concerns should circle the number 1 on the scale printed on the activity sheet. Those who believe their committee needs much improvement in dealing with the issues they added to the list of problems and concerns should circle the number 2. Those who think their committee is effective in some ways with the issues they put on the list, and ineffective in others, should circle the number 3. Those who feel their committee is doing a pretty good job of addressing the issues they put on the list – but still has room for improvement -- should circle the number 4. And those who think their committee has been very effective in addressing the issues they put on the list should circle the number 5. Remind participants that this is an activity focused on how effective their joint labor-management health and safety committee has been in recognizing and addressing those particular problems they put on the list in response to the question “What is happening in your workplace that is causing workers to be injured, made ill and/or stressed on their jobs?” – not other issues that the committee may have been or is working on.
The activity worksheet then asks participants to list several reasons why they chose that number – so tell participants to make a note of their key reasons for choosing the number they chose.
Finally, the activity worksheet asks participants to make a brief list of key things that they think could make their joint labor-management committee more effective in addressing current problems that they believe are causing or contributing to workers being injured, made ill and/or stressed on their jobs.
Give participants about 10 minutes to complete their activity worksheets. Give them a “2-minute warning” after about 8 minutes have gone by.
After participants have filled out their activity worksheet, ask those who work in the same facility to group with others from that facility and share their responses with each other. Ask each group to select a reporter who will summarize, during the report-back session, the similarities and differences among the responses of the members of the group.
3. Report-Back Session
Gather back together as a large group, and ask reporters for the range of numbers selected by members in each group. Get a sense from each group if there is common thinking about the effectiveness of their committee, or if different people see the committee’s effectiveness differently.
Ask for a volunteer group to give a summary of the following information:
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The range of numbers selected to represent the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of their joint labor-management health and safety committee in addressing current issues and problems.
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Key reasons why those numbers were selected.
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Key changes that could make their committee more effective.
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Flip chart key responses from each group
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When you have finished with the report-back from all the small groups, ask participants to look for similarities and differences -- within groups and between groups.
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Sum up any lessons that come from these descriptions and this discussion.
4. Conclusion
Summarize this activity by noting that there are many ways to improve or enhance the effectiveness of joint labor-management health and safety committees. Even committees that are doing very well may be able to do better. Tell participants that the next sections of this module will cover ways to enhance the effectiveness of their efforts and committees, no matter what rating they have given them. There is always room for improvement!
Activity Handout
EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR JOINT LABOR-MANAGEMENT HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE
PURPOSE
To evaluate the effectiveness of your joint labor-management health and safety committee in addressing current problems that are causing or contributing to workers being injured, made ill and/or stressed on their jobs; and identify areas in need of improvement.
TASK
Review the questions below and answer them.
1. Effectiveness of joint committee and worksite safety and health program: Using the scale below, chose one of the numbers to represent how effective you consider your joint labor-management health and safety committee to be in addressing the problems you listed earlier that you believe are causing/contributing to workers in your facility being injured, made ill and/or stressed on the job? (Circle a number on the scale below, with #1 representing a committee that is not effective; and #5 representing a committee that is very effective.)
1 2 3 4 5
(not effective) (very effective)
- List several reasons for choosing that number to reflect the effectiveness of your joint labor-management health and safety committee.
- What do you think could make your joint labor-management health and safety committee more effective in addressing current problems that you believe are causing or contributing to workers being injured, made ill and/or stressed on the job?
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