Overview

• Who Plans the Weekly Safety Meeting
• Who Attends the Weekly Safety Meeting
• What Information Will be Covered
• When are Safety Meetings Scheduled
• How to Write a Safetly Meeting Agenda

• Responsibilities of the Chair
• Taking Minutes

Section 3: Sample Agenda Worksheet

Overview

This guide describes how to organize and run safety meetings at construction projects. Although it is one of the lead guides, it presents a general approach that can be used for most worksite safety and health issues.

Why have Safety Meetings

• Bring people together to review current and up-coming lead safety issues on the site.
  
• Maintain good communications.
  
• Increase awareness of potential hazards.
  
• Solve problems.

At some sites, safety meetings are formalized as safety and health committees.

The most successful safety meetings:

• Are attended by both management and labor/supervisors, safety officer, foremen and shop stewards
  
• Are held regularly
  
• Follow an agenda
  
• Reinforce best health and safety practices
  
• Pinpoint problems and assign corrective actions
  
• Promote communication throughout the site
  
• Keep track of progress

Overview of the Guide

— This Guide will elaborate on these tasks —

• Assign a safety chairperson to plan each safety meeting, write an agenda, and run the meeting.
• Make sure the chair is familiar with work activities and the health and safety issues related to the work.
  
• The chair can be the same person each week or meeting members can take turns running the meetings.
  

• People from each work area and trade
• The project manager, project engineer, safety officer, subcontractor representatives, supervisors, foremen and shop stewards
• People from areas or operations affected by the meeting topic.
  

What information will be covered in a safety meeting

• Set a regular day and time for safety meetings.
  
• Pick a time that is convenient for meeting members.
  
• Hold once a week, or less frequently, depending on the nature of the project.
  
• Keep meetings brief – 15 to 30 minutes.

How to write a safety meeting agenda

• An agenda is a brief outline of the topics to be discussed at the meeting.
• The meeting chair is usually responsible for writing up the agenda and using it to keep the meeting on track.
• The agenda contains:
  
  • action items
    
  • follow-up actions
    
  • weekly toolbox talk topics
    
  • new business
    
  • announcements.

• Use the Safety Meeting Agenda Worksheet in Section 3.

Safety Meeting Planning Checklist

Item	Coments
Select the chair	Rotate between labor and management representatives; or assign a permanent chair
Assign meeting members	Assign supervisors, foremen, subcontractors, and shop stewards to the safety meetings. Make sure that all project sectors are represented.
Make an agenda	Use the agenda worksheet. Make copies for the meeting.
Pick a time	Establish a regular day and time for the meeting.
Pick a location	Use a space that is quiet and away from distracting activities. Meeting participants should be able to hear, ask questions, and participate in discussions.

Running The Meeting

Responsibilities of the Chair:

• Making sure that everyone has the agenda and any other materials needed for the meeting.
  
• Assigning someone to take meeting minutes.
  
• Calling the meeting to order on time.
  
• Following the agenda, keeping the meeting on track and resolving issues as they arise.
  
• Assuring that each action item is briefly discussed and someone is assigned to follow up for the next meeting.

Taking Minutes:

Meeting minutes should be taken to track progress of the safety program and keep track of action items and follow up. Meeting minutes should be brief and simple. Include the following:

• Meeting date/time
  
• Attendees (attach sign up sheet)
  
• Chair
  
• Action items: list
  
• Follow up actions: who, what, when
  
• Attach inspection and injury reports
  
• Toolbox topics
  
• New business

Sample Safety Meeting Agenda Worksheet

SAFETY MEETING AGENDA WORKSHEET

Back to Table of Contents