Health and Safety Committees

The University’s health and safety committees help foster a strong culture of safety with a goal of preventing workplace injuries and illnesses.

The UW health and safety committee structure, which includes ten organizational health and safety committees along with the University-Wide Health and Safety Committee, represents all UW employees institution-wide. Responsibilities of the health and safety committees include:

  • Evaluating workplace incident reports for cause and corrective actions
  • Evaluating accident prevention programs and safety inspection trends
  • Acting as liaison between committee members and the UW personnel they represent
  • Evaluating health and safety-related materials
  • Recommending actions to resolve health and safety concerns

 The University’s health and safety committee program is overseen by Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) and aligned with the safety committee requirements of Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

The executive sponsor of each committee works with EH&S to ensure the committees are representative of the organization, department, or unit served. The chair of each committee ensures meetings occur monthly and that meeting minutes are kept. Committee members are elected or appointed to a committee for a two-year term. 

During elections, UW personnel are encouraged to nominate themselves or others for committee membership, vote in elections, and communicate their health and safety concerns with their committee representatives.

Health and Safety Committee Meeting Information

Health and safety committees are a valuable resource for all University personnel. One of the 10 committees listed below represents your unit or department.

Contact your chair(s) for a current member roster or to inquire about meeting schedule or minutes.

University-Wide Health and Safety Committee

Training

The Health and Safety Committee Training Program course, required for HSC elected and appointed members, is available online on the EH&S website.

Contact the EH&S Training team at ehstrain@uw.edu for more information.

Regulation and policy

Contact

Accident and Injury Reporting Contact

(206) 543-7388