Committee leadership structure

Forming the safety leadership team (SLT) and arranging an external safety and health audit are already steps toward structuring a safety system. Setting up the system also calls for the constitution and establishment of different-tiered safety committees. It also establishes a safety culture baseline based on the audit findings. The big question now is What is the next step in the implementation of a safety system, and how is it done The short reply is that it s like eating an elephant—one bite at a time. Bite one is getting the workplace in order. 

The charter is developed in a joint effort between the leadership team and the members of the initial safety committee. The charter is a living document that must be periodically amended as conditions warrant. However, its core purpose and structure should be kept as permanent as possible. The establishment of a safety committee is essentially the same as that prescribed for the development of a project team. 

Finally, mental health staff should use existing school structures such as school cabinets, school leadership teams, and pupil persormel committees for planning, recommendations, and discussion of documented student needs. Furthermore, mental health staff should use these structures to help clarify the goals for all collaborating partners in the school as well as to articulate their own expectations for the mental health program. 

For example, if a successful quality control committee has been in operation, its meeting structure, charter, and administration may already be familiar to the leadership team and employees. Model it (Godin, 2009). The JHA committee could make minor changes to the charter and not have to reinvent the wheel as to how the committee is organized and managed (Roughton Crutchfield, 2013). 

While the JHA committee is advisory in nature, as it becomes embedded in the network structure of the organization, it can become the conduit for information shared with the leadership team and employees that might otherwise be obstructed or blocked by the nature of the organizational structure. 

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