Safety Committee

Name

The name of this committee is the Eastern Oregon University Safety Committee.

Purpose

The mission of the Safety Committee is to bring all Eastern Oregon University employees together to achieve and maintain a safe, healthful workplace. To bring EOU faculty, staff, partners, and students together in a non-adversarial, cooperative effort to promote safety and health in each workplace.

Goal

The Safety Committee will work to eliminate workplace injuries and illnesses by involving employees and managers in the process of identifying hazards and suggesting every reasonable precaution to prevent them. The Safety Committee will advise management on safety and health issues and safe work practices. It will also provide leadership in protecting the safety and health of the students, faculty, staff, and guests of EOU.

Objectives

The Safety Committee has the following objectives:

1. Involve employees in achieving a safe, healthful workplace.
2. Promptly review all safety-related incidents, injuries, accidents, illnesses, and deaths.
3. Conduct quarterly workplace safety inspections, identify hazards, and recommend methods for eliminating or controlling the hazards.
4. Advise management on safety and health issues, and safe work practices. Provide leadership in protecting the safety and health of all employees. The committee is the prime forum for communication and exchange of information on all safety issues at EOU.

Representatives

The safety committee will have up to 19 voting representatives. Four representatives will represent the classified staff, three will represent Administrative Professionals, four will represent the faculty, one will represent the Safety & Security staff, and one will represent the students.

Employee representatives will be nominated by the SEIU. Administrative professionals will be selected by the Vice President of Finance and Administration. Faculty representatives will be nominated by the colleges, with one member coming from each college. The student representative will be nominated by ASEOU.

Additionally, a representative from Head Start, Facilities & Planning, Residence Life, ODFW, OHSU, and OSU Ag will be invited to attend committee meetings as voting members if they so choose.

All members are appointed by the VP of Finance and Administration. Committee membership will be reviewed annually each May with recommendations made to the VP for Finance and Administration. Changes to the committee membership will be effective July 1st.

Committee membership is expected to last two years, with exceptions allowed for other duties/obligations. Committee members may exceed the two-year tenure upon request. Vacancies may be filled at any time during a regular term, to complete the term of the vacating member.

Officers

The safety committee will have three officers: a chair, a vice-chair, and a recorder. Each will be selected by a vote of the committee.

Terms of Service

The chair, vice-chair, and recorder will each serve two-year terms and may serve multiple terms, if willing and if voted on by the membership.

Duties of the Chair

• Schedule regular monthly committee meetings.
• Develop written agendas for conducting meetings.
• Conduct the committee meeting.

Duties of the Vice-Chair

• In the absence of the chair, assume the duties of the chair.
• Facilitate new members in accessing the required training and ensure completion.
• In the absence of the recorder, assume the duties of the recorder.

Duties of the Recorder

• Record the minutes of committee meetings.
• Submit the minutes to the committee for approval at the next meeting.
• Post the minutes to the Safety Committee website once they are approved.
• Maintain records in EOU Safety Committee Drive.

Election of Chair and Vice-Chair

The election of a new chair, vice-chair, and recorder will be held during the May committee meeting in which the incumbent’s term expires. If the chair or vice-chair leaves office before the term expires, an election will be held during the next scheduled safety committee meeting; the elected officer will serve for the remainder of the term.

Training

New representatives will receive training in safety committee functions, hazard identification, and procedures for investigating accidents as deemed necessary by the safety committee. Training is available through Safe Colleges online courses.

The vice chair shall be responsible for contacting the Director of IT with a list of committee members needing Accident Investigation and Safety Committee Operations (located under the environmental subsection), as well as Hazard Identification Training (located under the policy subsection) assigned.

Meetings

The safety committee will meet no less than once a month at a time and place as set by the committee. Each representative will attend regularly scheduled safety committee meetings and participate in other committee activities.

The agenda will state the order in which the safety committee conducts its business. The agenda also will include the following when applicable:

• A review of new safety and health concerns
• A status report of employee safety and health concerns under review
• A review of all workplace near misses, accidents, illnesses, or deaths occurring since the last committee meeting

Minutes will be recorded at each safety committee meeting and be distributed via the Safety Committee website to all company employees. Minutes will include:

• Names of attendees
• Meeting date
• All safety and health issues discussed
• Recommendations for corrective action

All minutes will be posted to the Safety Committee website for viewing by the public. All minutes, inspections, evaluations, and recommendations will be housed in the EOU Safety Committee drive for record retention.

Fifty percent plus one voting representative shall constitute a quorum. A majority vote of voting members is required to approve all safety-committee decisions. If a quorum is not present during the time of the committee meeting, a vote will be sent out digitally with a summary of the topic for all members. Issues not resolved by majority vote will be forwarded to management for resolution or may be tabled to allow for additional discussion at the next scheduled meeting.

Employee Involvement

The safety committee will encourage employees to identify health and safety hazards in the workplace. These concerns will be reported and logged using the Safety Concern Form found on the Safety and Security web page. Concerns raised by employees will be presented to the committee by the director of Safety and Security or a designated representative.

The committee will review new concerns at the next regularly scheduled monthly meeting and make recommendations to address the concern if the concern has not already been resolved.

Safety Log

The electronic “Safety Concern Form” will serve as the safety log of all employee-reported safety concerns and will be maintained by the director of Safety and Security for a minimum of three years.

The Safety Concern Form should include the date received, the date the concern was resolved, and if not resolved, what was the recommendation to management to handle the concern. The Director of Safety and Security will submit an annual report of that year’s safety concerns to the full committee at the monthly December meeting. The Safety Committee will retain this log in the Safety Committee Drive for record retention.

Response

Safety Concern Forms are received by the Director of Safety and Security and categorized as urgent or not urgent. The concerns that are declared urgent are immediately forwarded to facilities for repair and reported to the Safety Committee at the next scheduled meeting.

Non-urgent concerns will be presented at the next scheduled meeting. The committee will present a recommendation for the unresolved concern to the Director of Safety and Security. Within 30 days of receiving the recommendations, Campus Safety and Security will respond to the committee indicating acceptance, rejection, or modification of the recommendations.

Incident and Accident Investigation

Incidents and accidents will be reported electronically on the “Report and Accident Form” found on the Safety & Security webpage. The reported accidents are received by the Director of Safety & Security.

Upon receiving the incident or accident report, the Director of Safety & Security will assign the accident to a security employee who has been trained in incident and accident investigations. The committee will provide recommendations to Campus Safety and Security for eliminating or controlling hazards.

Completed investigations will be maintained by the Director of Safety and Security for a minimum of three years. The Director of Safety and Security will submit an annual report of that year’s incidents and accidents to the full committee at the monthly December meeting. The Safety Committee will retain this log in the Safety Committee Drive.

Workplace Inspections

The EOU campus is required to undergo a hazard identification inspection by the safety committee annually. The campus will be divided into multiple zones and inspected quarterly.

The committee will create a workplace inspection sub-committee that is responsible for conducting the safety inspection and reporting findings to the committee. Duties and procedures of the inspection subcommittee can be found in later subsections of these bylaws.

Written Report

Once the committee has reviewed written reports, including accident investigations, hazard identifications, and light walks, all recommendations for eliminating and controlling hazards will be documented within the report and sent to management including but not limited to the Director of Safety and Security, the Director of Facilities, the VP of Finance, and Risk Management.

Within 30 days of receiving the written report, management will respond in writing to the committee, indicating acceptance, rejection, or proposed modification of the recommendations.

Subcommittees

The safety committee will establish three subcommittees: a campus hazard identification subcommittee, a light walk subcommittee, and a campus training subcommittee.

Membership on each committee and the length of service will be decided by the full safety committee. Each safety committee member must participate on at least one subcommittee for the duration of their tenure.

Campus Hazard Identification Subcommittee

The Campus Hazard Identification subcommittee will be made up of an inspection coordinator, an inspection vice coordinator, and 8 inspectors.

• The coordinator/vice coordinator is responsible for dividing the campus into inspection quadrants and assigning inspection quadrants to the subcommittee members.
• They are responsible for sending out inspection reminders and ensuring all inspections occur in a timely manner to allow committee review prior to summer break.
• They are responsible for notating recommendations for issues found during inspections and ensuring the correct lines of communication are used to notify management.

The inspectors are responsible for:

• Completing appropriate training assigned in Safe Colleges over hazard identification as well as the inspection software training.
• Completing quarterly safety inspections of all buildings and grounds.
• Submitting a report to the full committee for each area inspected, detailing any hazards or potential hazards and identifying possible solutions or modifications.

Light Walk Subcommittee

The Light Walk subcommittee will be made up of a light walk coordinator, inspectors, and campus volunteers.

• The light walk coordinator is responsible for dividing the campus into inspection quadrants and assigning inspection quadrants to subcommittee members and volunteers.
• They will place an announcement on the Infoline asking for volunteers and contact student government to ask for volunteers.
• They are responsible for writing up the final report to be presented at the next safety committee meeting.
• This report will be sent to the Director of Safety and Security, Director of Facilities, VP of Finance, and Risk Management.

Campus Training Subcommittee

The Campus Training subcommittee will be made up of a coordinator and an assistant coordinator.

• They will be responsible for organizing safety training in coordination with Safety and Security.
• These training sessions will be available to the entire campus.
• They will be responsible for determining what training would best serve the campus (First Aid, CPR, Narcan, AED, etc.) and notifying the campus of the training opportunity via infoline.

Procedures

Hazard Identification Inspection

1. The entire campus will be inspected annually. The coordinator will divide the campus into 4 quadrants and assign each quadrant to an inspection team.
2. The inspections will be completed between the months of September and June.
3. The inspecting team will use the Safety Culture Inspection Software and associated form to document any potential hazards found in their inspections.
4. Once the inspection has been completed, the safety committee will review the potential hazards and document on the inspection form any recommended changes.
5. Once the safety committee has completed their review and documented their recommendations, the Inspection Coordinator/Vice Coordinator will notify management as follows:
   1. Email the Director of Facilities and the VP of Finance with inspections that have been reviewed and notify them that they are ready for management to accept, reject, or propose modification of the recommendations. Management will make their acceptance, rejection, or modification recommendations in writing on the inspection form within 30 days of notification.
   2. Email the Director of Safety and Security and the VP of Finance about any non-facilities-related issue with the committee’s recommendation. Management will make their acceptance, rejection, or modification recommendations in writing within 30 days of notification.
6. Once the inspection has been closed out, a copy will be sent to Risk Management and saved in the Safety Committee Drive for record retention.

Light Walk

1. The entire campus will be walked annually each fall at or after dusk to evaluate the lighting needs of the campus.
2. The coordinator will divide the campus into several quadrants and provide a map of the quadrants to each inspection group.
3. Each group of inspectors and volunteers will notate on their map where a light is out, including the lamp ID number located on the lamp post.
4. Inspectors and volunteers will also indicate on their map campus locations that lack lighting.
5. The coordinator will then compile the information into a report spreadsheet containing the general quadrant location and the lamp post number. The report will include the total number of lamps out and list the recommended dark locations. This report will be reviewed at the next safety committee meeting.
6. The Safety Committee will prioritize dark locations across campus and recommend the top locations to receive lighting in the coming year.
7. Once reviewed, the coordinator will email the final report to the Director of Facilities, the Director of Safety and Security, the VP of Finance, and Risk Management.
8. Within 30 days of receiving the report, management will respond in writing with their acceptance, denial, or modification of the committee recommendation.

Adoption

Adopted by the committee on November 4, 2024.