Safety committee members and representatives provide their coworkers with a way to raise workplace safety concerns and help ensure those concerns are addressed. Depending on the size of your workplace, this role is filled by a Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) Committee or a Health and Safety Representative.
JOHS Committee
A JOHS Committee, commonly referred to as a safety committee, is a group of worker and employer representatives who work together to address health and safety issues in their workplace. If your workplace has 20 or more workers, the law on Prince Edward Island says that you must have a safety committee.
Responsibilities of the safety committee include:
- Meeting at least once per month and posting minutes from the meetings.
- Establishing rules of procedure.
- Participating in regular inspections and investigations of incidents.
- Making recommendations to the employer for improvements on health and safety issues.
- Encouraging workers to first report hazards and concerns to their supervisor.
Health and Safety Representatives
A Health and Safety Representative, or Representative for short, is required for workplaces with five to 19 workers. The representative must be a worker who has no managerial functions and who is selected by workers or their union.
The role of a Representative is to collaborate with workers to identify any health and safety issues and report these concerns to management. The Representative acts as the link between the employers and workers, so that solutions can be developed.
Responsibilities of the Representative include:
- Participating in regular inspections and investigating incidents.
- Making recommendations to the employer to address health and safety issues.
- Encouraging workers to report hazards and concerns to their supervisor.