28
on the committee; the director holds a chemistry degree and worked in environmental control as
well as human resources. Employee representatives express different reasons for why they
joined the safety committee. One employee representative states that, “I volunteered to join
when there was an opening in my area,” while another employee simply remarks that, “There
was an opening on the safety committee, and I decided to volunteer for the space.” Other
employee representatives describe a sense of duty to do something beneficial for other
employees. As one employee representative put it,
I joined the committee out of a sense of responsibility to my co-workers. I am
really the only person in my area who does it, really the only ‘carpet’ employee
on the committee. Even in the office area, I felt it was really important that my
co-workers have a person they could come to when a problem came up.
Despite the various reasons as to why people volunteered for the safety committee, all members
say that they did not hold any skepticism for the committee’s effectiveness or usefulness when
they joined.
Employee representatives have different levels of training. There is little training at the
facility beyond the general requirements in Oregon law. However, the environmental health and
safety director maintains that the employee representatives can receive training from Oregon
OSHA at the employer’s cost: “We have opportunities for safety committee members to get
training. Oregon OSHA has a number of classes and we encourage the members to take them
either online or at their training center. The company will pay for them to go to the classes.” An
employee representative describes her training as minimal: “I didn’t receive any formal training
when I joined the committee. There were the basics – how meetings work, that we do audits and
the basic steps in performing audits. But the company will pay for training if anyone wants to do
it.” Another employee representative who has served on the committee for a longer period of
time describes slightly more substantive training when she began serving on the committee: “I’m
taking the online courses for safety committee training. We do have some training here. There
are videos, and they walk you through problems such as ergonomics, clutter, and other
problems.”
Most employee representatives express an interest in the Oregon OSHA training courses,
but they describe the demands of their jobs as a barrier to receiving this training. One employee
states that she “has little time to get the training. If I went to a training for the day, then I am
going to fall behind on the work I need to do at my station. I think that I will try to do some
Convention