Establishing the Massachusetts Employee Safety and Health Advisory Committee

On April 27, 2009, Governor Deval L. Patrick signed Executive Order #511, “Establishing the Massachusetts Employee Safety and Health Advisory Committee.  EO 511 calls for the creation of an infrastructure that will allow for on-going assessment and improvement of health and safety conditions for Commonwealth employees on the job.  The cornerstone of this health and safety infrastructure is the creation of joint labor management health and safety committees to cover all employees in agencies of the Commonwealth's executive branch.  These committees will conduct an assessment of health and safety systems in place for certain serious worker health and safety hazards.  This will generate a big picture understanding of where we currently stand with worker safety and health across the executive branch, and will serve to inform the efforts of the Governor's Advisory Committee in identifying effective and practical strategies and initiatives to improve the safety and health of our Commonwealth's employees.

View Executive Order 511 
View informational flyer pdf format of EO511_flyer.pdf
EO 511 Fact Sheet pdf format of EO 511 Fact Sheet Phase 2
EO 511 Key Initiatives
Frequently Asked Questions about EO 511
Massachusetts Employee Safety and Health Advisory Committee
EO 511 Annual Reports

Approach to Executive Order 511 Implementation:

For worker health and safety protections to become part of the daily routine, a variety of factors must all be in place together, and this creates a comprehensive worker health and safety system. These factors include:

  • Upper management support / worker health and safety policy
  • Accountability at all levels for use of health and safety equipment and procedures
  • Use of the correct technical worker protection standard or guideline to identify what employee protections are needed
  • Training of employees in health and safety hazards and needed protections
  • Use of the protective "controls" outlined in the technical standards, such as special equipment or procedures.

For Executive Order #511, a method was developed for health and safety committees to evaluate their organization's health and safety systems for some of the most serious hazards workers face on the job. The first step is for the committee to complete the questionnaires for all relevant hazards, which consist of open-ended questions about what you currently have in place relative to specific worker hazards. The second step is to compare what you currently have in place against what is required by the technical standard as well as effective health and safety system program elements. Once these "gaps" are identified, the committee can further evaluate this information to identify the core reasons for what is missing in their health and safety system. Going through this process will help you identify effective measures and strategies for improving worker health and safety for your organization.

 

If you would like to use this method and would like to receive training and assistance, please contact Hilary Hackbart at the Mass Department of Labor Standards at 978-242-1354, ext. 333 or hilary.hackbart@state.ma.us .