The University’s health and safety committees help foster a strong culture of safety with a goal of preventing workplace injuries and illnesses. 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 & Industries.
Nominations for health and safety committees
Nominations will be open soon for the next two-year committee term, which begins on January 1, 2026. Don’t miss your chance to nominate yourself or a coworker to serve on a health and safety committee!
Health and safety committee responsibilities
Responsibilities of the health and safety committees include:
- Evaluating workplace incident reports and inspection reports for cause, corrective actions, and incident trends
- Evaluating accident prevention programs
- 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
Roles
Every health and safety committee reports to an executive sponsor.
The executive sponsor may require members to represent multiple units or departments within their HSC. The executive sponsor will ensure that each member understands which department(s)/unit(s) they represent to facilitate communications with these departments or units.
At the beginning of a new two-year term, each health and safety committee selects a chair and a vice-chair to lead the committee. The chair’s responsibilities include:
- Lead meetings: Manage proceedings, maintain order, and ensure the group adheres to its agenda.
- Facilitate discussion: Recognize speakers, manage speaking time, and promote consensus.
- Represent the group: Act as the public face of the organization and its primary spokesperson.
- Ensure decisions are made: Sum up issues, guide the group toward decisions, and oversee their implementation.
- Delegate tasks: Distribute responsibilities to members and committees as needed.
- Prepare for meetings: Gather necessary paperwork, such as the agenda and minutes.
- Act as a substitute: Take over the chair's duties and preside over meetings when the chair is absent or unable to serve.
- Support the chair: Assist the chair in fulfilling their duties and learn the role to prepare for future leadership needs.
- Succeed chair: The vice chair is the most likely person to succeed the chair if the position becomes vacant during the term.
- Attend U-Wide meetings.
- Report health and safety committee concerns/issues at U-Wide
- Bring U-Wide news/concerns back to the health and safety committees.
- Identify a proxy to attend U-Wide if needed.
- Ensure minutes include attendance and at least a brief description of topics covered.
- Post minutes as a PDF.
- Delete drafts of minutes when a final version is posted.
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) advises executive sponsors and committee members as needed to ensure compliance with Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) rules and variances.
EH&S also established an advisory committee to review and contribute feedback on health and safety strategies, policies, and programs.
Find your health and safety committee
Ten health and safety committees represent all University personnel institution-wide. UW personnel are encouraged to communicate health and safety concerns with their committee representatives.
Every UW employee is represented by one of the 10 organizational health and safety committees listed below. Review the sections below to determine which committee represents your organization, unit or department.
Please contact Environmental Health & Safety, the executive sponsor, or the committee chair with questions.
Executive Sponsor: Tricia Serio, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Co-Chair: Samantha Einarson
Co-Chair: Dian Gay
- Academic & Student Affairs
- Applied Physics Lab
- Attorney General’s Office
- Campus Community Safety
- College of Built Environments
- College of Education
- CoMotion
- Continuum College
- Creative Communications
- Environmental Health & Safety
- Evans School of Public Policy & Governance
- Foster School of Business
- Graduate School
- Information School
- Intercollegiate Athletics
- Internal Audit
- Office of Academic Personnel
- Office of External Affairs
- Office of Global Affairs
- Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
- Office of Research
- Office of the President
- Office of the Provost
- School of Law
- Undergraduate Academic Affairs
- University Advancement
- University Libraries
- UW Compliance & Risk Services
- UW Finance
- UW Human Resources
- UW-IT
- Washington National Primate Research Center
Executive Sponsor: Lou Cariello, Vice President of Facilities
Chair: Derek Martin
- Building Services
- Campus Utilities & Operations
- Capital Space & Management
- Customer Experience
- Emergency Management
- Engineering Services
- Facilities Employee Services
- Maintenance & Construction
- Project Delivery
- Real Estate
- Sustainibility
- Safety
- Transportation Services
- University Architects
Executive Sponsor: Denzil J. Suite, Vice President for Student Life
Co-Chair: Amanda Reynoso-Palley
Co-Chair: Cristal P. Visser
- Campus Life
- Office of Ceremonies
- Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life
- Q Center
- Recreational Sports Programs/IMA
- Student Legal Services
- Student Publications (The Daily)
- The HUB
- David C. Hall Building
- Housing & Food Services
- Student Life and Care
- Career Center
- Community Standards and Student Conduct
- Counseling Center
- Disability Resources for Students
- LiveWell
- Student Life External Relations and Strategic Initiatives
Executive Sponsor: Jason Lindahl, Director, Health Sciences Administration
Chair: Carol Harvey
- Health Sciences Administration
- Academic Services & Facilities
- Center on Human Development and Disability (CHDD)
- School of Dentistry
- School of Nursing
- School of Pharmacy
- School of Public Health & Community Medicine
- School of Social Work
- School of Medicine
Executive Sponsor: Adam J. Parcher, Associate Administrator of Quality and Value Based Care
Chair: David Manley
Vice Chair: Norma De Leon
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- Airlift Northwest
- Harborview Medical Center
- Health Sciences Risk Management
- Medical Affairs
- UW Medical Center
- UW Medicine Primary Care
Executive Sponsor: Peter Denis, Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Chair: Patrick Gibbs
Vice-Chair: Sarah O'Hara
- Arts
- Humanities
- Museums and Special Projects
- Natural Sciences
- Social Sciences
Executive Sponsor: Santhi Perumal, Vice Chancellor for Planning and Administration
Chair: Jennifer Cabarrus
- Academic Affairs
- Admissions
- Bookstore
- Business Programs
- Chancellor's Office
- Computing and Software Systems Program
- Cultural Studies
- Education Program
- Finance and Administration
- Information Systems
- Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences Program
- Library
- Media Center
- Nursing Program
- Physical Plant Services
- Policy Studies
- Public Relations and Communications
- Public Safety and Security
- Quantitative Skills Center
- Teaching and Learning Center
- Writing Center
Executive Sponsor: Sylvia James, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Co-Chair: Caitlin Chavez-Moats
Co-Chair: Julie Palumbo
- Academic Affairs
- Office of Advancement
- Alumni Relations
- Autism Center
- Campus Safety
- Center for the Study of Community and Society
- Chancellor's Office
- Computer Services/Information Technology
- Conference Services
- Continuing Studies
- Copy/Mail Center
- Education
- Enrollment Services
- Facilities Services
- Finance
- General Education Center
- Global Honors Program
- Human Resources
- Institute of Technology/Computing and Software Systems
- Institutional Research and Planning
- Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
- International Programs
- KeyBank Professional Development Center
- Library
- Media Services
- Milgard School of Business
- Nursing
- Ombudsman, Office of
- Pacific Rim Center
- Public Relations, Office of
- Social Work
- Student Affairs
- Teaching and Learning Center
- University Bookstore
- Urban Studies
- Diversity Resource Center
Executive Sponsor: Nancy Allbritton, Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering
Chair: J. Sean Yeung
- William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
- Bioengineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil & Environmental Engineering
- College of Engineering - Dean's Office
- Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
- Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Human Centered Design & Engineering
- Industrial & Systems Engineering
- Materials Science & Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
Executive Sponsor: Maya Tolstoy, Dean of the College of the Environment
Chair: David Warren
Vice Chair: Andrea Chateaubriand
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Aquatic & Fishery Sciences
- Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies (CICOES)
- Dean's Office
- Earth & Space Sciences
- EarthLab
- Environmental & Forestry Sciences
- Friday Harbor Labs
- Marine & Environmental Affairs
- Oceanography
- Program on the Environment
- Washington NASA Space Grant
- Washington Sea Grant
If you are interested in becoming a member, contact EH&S.
University-Wide Health and Safety Committee
The University-Wide Health and Safety Committee (U-Wide) was established as an advisory group and connects the 10 organizational health and safety committees together to discuss health and safety concerns that relate to the whole University.
U-Wide is composed of two representatives from each organizational committee, plus union members, and ex-officio members. Ex-officio members can include representatives from the Office of Risk Management, the Attorney General's Office, Human Resources, UW Emergency Management, UW Facilities, and EH&S to provide support.
More information on the purpose, composition, and charge of U-Wide can be found in the U-Wide Charter.
| Role | Name | |
| Chair | Samantha Einarson | einarson@uw.edu |
| Vice Chair | Sarah O'Hara | sazma529@uw.edu |
The meetings take place on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Training
The Health and Safety Committee Training is required for all voting members and recommended for non-voting members of health and safety committees. This course is available online.
Please contact the EH&S Training team for more information.
Regulation and policy
- Washington Administrative Code WAC 296-800-130 Safety Committees/safety meetings.
- Labor & Industries Variance
Health and safety committee elections
During elections, UW personnel are encouraged to participate in nominations for committee membership, vote in elections, and communicate their health and safety concerns with their committee representatives.
Committee members are elected by their peers; or selected by a union; or appointed by management. All committee members serve for a two-year term.
The executive sponsor of each committee works with Environmental Health & Safety to ensure the committees are representative of the organization, department, or unit served.
Please refer to the University of Washington Health and Safety Committee Election Guide and contact your Health and Safety Committee Election Coordinator for more information.