Could anyone help inform me please? We have a large motor vehicle site (sales and mechanical workshops), which another smaller business has an office on site. They do not use any of the workshops. However, should their H&S rep be included in our monthly H&S committee meetings?
Hi Lucille,
Both businesses should communicate, consult, coordinate and cooperate regarding shared concerns and how to manage shared risks.
From what you have described, the smaller business occupies part of the building. So some shared concerns are likely to be fire safety, emergency evacuation procedure, security, housekeeping of shared areas, parking etc.
If these are topics being discussed in your H&S meetings, sure - why not invite them along as a visitor. But generally, if your meetings are to discuss the risks to the larger business which do not effect the smaller business, there's no benefit to having them attend.
Another idea would be to have someone appointed to manage the relationship with the smaller business and be a contact person for them. And perhaps meeting regularly every month or two, might be a proactive way of managing the relationship and making sure there is opportunity to communicate.
Hi Lucille, i have 3 branches which each include sales, workshop tech's, truck detailer's and admin. All our committee meetings include, senior managers, line managers, reps and directors, so there is a really great scope of the business included at all times. Generally at any time there is 10-15 people in the meeting. Which i hold every 2 months for each branch.
Hi Lucille, I would tend to invite them along, a good opportunity for sharing what is happening in the workshops and if there are issues that crop up that the other group might want to talk about. While they may not use the workshops, they will use the grounds and other buildings. As Rebecca suggests you may wish for them to be included once every 2 to 3 months, outside of their regular committee meeting.
Hi Lucille
We have 8 locations. Each location holds their own H&S meeting with the Reps. Each location nominates one Rep to attend a group meeting where learnings, issues, risks and opportunities are shared so we can all learn from what has happened in other parts of the business. Good for checking to see if the risks / opportunities have been found in other parts of the business and locations .
A linked committee structure would be great for a larger organisation - a rep from each committee would also attend the committee / management meeting at the next level, acting as the two-way interface between both. Goodman Fielder used to use this model to ensure there was a clear, unbroken line of communication throughout the organisation, making it easy to escalate an issue or cascade information, as appropriate.