Purpose
To ensure UNC-Asheville, as a state Agency, implements an Environmental, Health and Safety Committee (Committee) that provides management and non-management involvement in the on-going responsibility of providing a safe and environmentally responsible work place. The Environment Health and Safety (EHS) Committee will support and promote environmental, health and safety planning and training on campus.
Scope
UNC-Asheville will strive for an effective EHS program and welcomes the involvement of every employee in the effort to eliminate workplace hazards and environmental concerns. Every employee is expected to participate in the EHS process and the Committee is expected to facilitate this participation.
The Committee provides representation necessary to ensure that each of the campus EHS Programs receives the appropriate support required for success. Leadership will rely on the Committee to assist with promoting continuous improvement in the EHS process.
In addition, is imperative that each employee have representation on the Committee so that each employee has the opportunity to be a stakeholder in the EHS process. Meetings will occur once per quarter, be documented and decisions made by a consensus. An agenda will be prepared for each meeting with members submitting items for discussion prior to the meeting.
Roles and Responsibilities
EHS Committee Chair
- Provides environment, health and safety guidance, statistics and information related to EHS programs and initiatives on campus.
- The Chair prepares meeting minutes and retains them in the EHS documents along with the agenda and information reviewed during the meeting.
EHS Committee
Drive progress of the UNC-Asheville campus towards achieving EHS program improvements.
EHS Committee Members
- Communicate EHS initiatives to employees in their departments and communicate EHS concerns of employees in their department to the Committee. This can be accomplished by attending department meetings to share EHS initiatives or other methods deemed appropriate for their department.
- Members are integral to helping their department identify potential environment, health and safety improvements in their work areas and make corrective actions recommendations.
- Accountable for following through on their assigned tasks and for helping the Committee to achieve its goals and objectives.
- Attendance at all meetings is expected unless prior arrangements are made with the Chair and the member provides an alternate for any meeting they are unable to attend.
- Participate in the review of on-going and new programs and offer critical evaluations to ensure compliance and continued improvement.
Committee Meetings
The Committee meets quarterly to review program quality and success through review of a variety of metrics designed to assess compliance with regulatory obligations and campus initiatives.
Each committee meeting will include the following:
- EHS Statistics including work related injuries, illnesses or significant near misses
- Trending of work related injuries, illnesses or near misses incidents
- EHS topics of concern brought to the meeting by the Committee
- Employee EHS complaints
- Updates on status of EHS initiatives
- Review and dissemination of EHS program documents issued
If you have any concerns for consideration by the Committee, please contact the Environmental Health and Safety Officer at (828) 251-6038.