Health and safety committee

At Huilerie Wassa, the crushing season is in full swing: the presses run day and night, the air smells of warm seed, and the workforce grows from 58 to 74. One evening, a worker’s hand is caught in a screw conveyor. The managing director then discovers that he should have had a health and safety committee for years, and that after such an accident the committee must meet and investigate.

1. What exactly are we talking about?

Huilerie Wassa is a fictitious cottonseed crushing company in Koutiala: its name and situation are used purely as an example.

The health and safety committee (CHS) is an internal body bringing together management, the safety manager, a doctor and elected employee representatives. It inspects, investigates serious accidents and gives its opinion on everything affecting health and safety at work.

Why require it? Because those who work on the machines see the dangers before management does. The committee organises this shared view, regularly, in writing, before the accident rather than after.

“The committee does not replace the employer. It helps the employer see danger in time.”

2. From what headcount?

A committee is set up in every industrial establishment habitually employing at least 50 employees, and in every other establishment, whatever its nature, habitually employing at least 100 workers (Labour Code, article L.280).

Type of establishment	Threshold	Examples
Industrial	50 habitual employees	Oil mill, factory, manufacturing workshop
Other (trade, services…)	100 habitual workers	Bank, clinic, supermarket
Any dangerous establishment below the threshold	On the inspector’s decision	Work with a particular risk of accidents or disease

The labour inspector may indeed require a committee in a smaller establishment whose work involves particular safety risks; the deadline in the formal notice is then one month (article L.280).

The Code does not say how to count the committee’s “habitual” headcount. For staff delegates, Order No. 96-1566 counts apprentices, employees on probation, regular day workers and seasonal workers totalling six months’ work in the year (article A.267.2). The prudent course is to apply the same method. Huilerie Wassa, an industrial establishment exceeding 50 employees for much of the year, must have its committee.

The most common mistake

Counting only permanent employees. Seasonal workers who return every season and regular day workers count towards the headcount; leaving them out means falling below the threshold on paper only.

What you need to do

• Classify each establishment: industrial or not.
• Count the habitual headcount including apprentices, probationers, regular day workers and seasonal workers.
• Set up the committee as soon as the threshold is reached, without waiting for a formal notice.

3. Who sits on the committee?

Decree No. 96-178/P-RM of 13 June 1996 sets the membership (article D.282-1):

• the head of the establishment or their representative, who chairs it;
• the safety manager or, failing that, the head of the social affairs department or a qualified engineer appointed by the employer, who acts as secretary;
• the establishment’s doctor or, as the decree provides, a medical labour inspector;
• three employee representatives, including one supervisor, up to 500 employees; six, including two supervisors, above that.

The committee may call on any qualified person for a particular case. Its members are bound by secrecy, on medical information as on trade secrets (article D.282-3).

Elected and protected representatives

Employee representatives are elected for three years, under the same conditions as staff delegates, taking into account their knowledge of health and safety; their term is renewable (article D.282-2).

They enjoy the same protection and the same time allowance as staff delegates (Labour Code, article L.281). In practice, the employer gives them the time needed for their duties, up to 15 hours a month save in exceptional circumstances, paid as working time (Labour Code, article L.271). And dismissing them requires the labour inspector’s prior authorisation, failing which the dismissal is void and they are reinstated (Labour Code, article L.277).

Example. Huilerie Wassa, three representatives on the committee:

Maximum time allowance: 3 × 15 = 45 hours a month
Time spent in meetings and on tasks entrusted by the committee: paid on top, as working time (article D.282-5)

The most common mistake

Appointing the “employee representatives” yourself. They are elected, like staff delegates; a member chosen by management does not represent the staff and deprives the committee of its legitimacy.

What you need to do

• Organise the election of representatives under the rules for staff delegates.
• Appoint the committee’s chair and secretary in writing.
• Treat representatives as protected employees: no serious sanction without checking the procedure.

4. Keeping the committee alive: meetings, register, duties

The committee meets at least once a quarter, unless the inspector grants an exemption, and must meet after any accident that caused or could have caused serious consequences (article D.282-5). The head of the establishment takes the initiative. Meetings take place on the premises, as far as possible during working hours.

Each meeting gives rise to minutes, entered in a special register kept permanently available to labour inspectors and controllers and to INPS safety controllers (article D.282-5). On this register and the others, see Which registers must an employer keep, and for how long?

The committee’s duties are set by article D.282-6:

• investigate any serious accident or occupational disease, to find its causes and prevent a recurrence;
• check, before any equipment or machine is installed, that it has the required safety devices;
• inspect the establishment frequently and record the results in the register;
• give its opinion on safety rules and instructions;
• organise the training of fire and rescue teams;
• spread a safety culture: talks, posters, audiovisual materials.

After the screw conveyor accident, Huilerie Wassa’s director must therefore convene the committee, have the causes investigated and record the results in the register.

The most common mistake

Setting up the committee on paper and never convening it. A committee without minutes proves nothing on the day the inspector, or the judge, asks what was done to prevent the accident.

What you need to do

• Set the four quarterly meeting dates at the start of the year.
• Convene the committee without delay after any serious accident or near miss.
• Enter every set of minutes in the committee’s special register.

5. Two documents to send

Article D.282-7 requires the committee to produce two documents, using the forms annexed to the decree:

Document	When	To whom
Information form	After any serious accident (death, permanent incapacity) or one revealing a serious danger, even if averted; within 15 days	1 copy to the INPS, 2 to the regional inspector, 1 kept
Annual activity report	By 30 January at the latest, with the year’s accident statistics	2 copies to the National Directorate of Labour, 1 to the INPS

What a missing committee costs

The decree punishes breaches of its D.282 articles with the penalties of article L.328, paragraph 1, namely a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 XOF (article D.282-9); this cross-reference is unexpected, as article L.328 originally targets trade unions, but it is the one the text uses (Labour Code, article L.328). The fine applies as many times as there are offences (article L.335).

Example. A year without a committee at Huilerie Wassa:

Four quarterly meetings missed and no annual report: 5 offences
Maximum fine: 5 × 15,000 = 75,000 XOF
The real cost lies elsewhere: the accident the committee could have prevented

If the accident is due to the employer’s inexcusable fault, the victim’s benefits are increased, the INPS recovers the increase through an additional contribution, and the employer may not insure against this risk (Social Security Code, article 68). A committee that never met weighs heavily in that debate. On reporting work-related diseases, see Occupational disease: how is it recognised and reported?

What you need to do

• Complete the information form within 15 days of any serious accident.
• Send the annual report before 30 January.
• Keep proof of sending with the committee’s register.

A closer look: neither CHSCT nor CSE

Many documents in circulation refer to a “CHSCT” required from 50 employees in every sector, or to a “CSE”. These are French institutions, and in France the CHSCT has in fact been replaced by the social and economic committee. In Mali, the body is called the health and safety committee; its threshold is 50 employees for an industrial establishment and 100 for others; its membership and obligations are those of Decree No. 96-178.

To go further, see Health, safety and working conditions and Staff delegates: the counterpart the law requires, and who can help you avoid a crisis.

Key takeaways in 6 points

1. Set up a committee in every industrial establishment with 50 habitual employees, and in every other establishment with 100.
2. Count the habitual headcount including apprentices, probationers, regular day workers and seasonal workers.
3. Have employee representatives elected and respect their protection and time allowance.
4. Convene the committee every quarter and after any serious accident, with minutes in the register.
5. Send the information form within 15 days of a serious accident and the annual report before 30 January.
6. Use the committee to prevent, not just to record.