(1) The safety committee, under the direction of the firefighter employer, shall:
    (a) Establish and communicate procedures for conducting internal safety inspections of the workplace. When approved by the firefighter employer, these procedures shall be used to evaluate the effectiveness of engineering, administrative, and personal protective control measures provided by the firefighter employer to protect firefighter employees from recognized hazards in the work and work environment;
    (b) Establish and communicate procedures approved by the firefighter employer by which the firefighter employer shall investigate all workplace accidents, safety-related incidents, reportable injuries, illnesses, diseases, and fatalities;
    (c) Evaluate the effectiveness of and recommend improvements to the firefighter employer’s safety rules, policies, and procedures for accident and illness prevention programs in the workplace and, when approved by the firefighter employer, ensure that written updates and changes to rules, policies, and procedures of the safety programs are completed;
    (d) Establish and communicate guidelines for the training of members on the requirements of this rule chapter;
    (e) Post the scheduled date, time, and location of committee meetings in a conspicuous place where firefighter employees normally gather;
    (f) Provide minutes of the committee meetings in a conspicuous place where firefighter employees normally gather and provide a copy thereof to individual firefighter employees upon written request; and,
    (g) Retain in the workplace all original written communications between the firefighter employer and the committee, or true copies thereof, for a period of not less than three calendar years.
    (2) A majority of the members which shall constitute a quorum of the membership of a committee is required before official business may be transacted at a meeting.
    (3) A committee organized pursuant to this rule chapter shall operate solely for the purposes required herein and may not substitute as a collective bargaining representative of firefighter employees on unrelated matters.
    (4) The workplace safety coordinator, under the direction of the firefighter employer, shall:
    (a) Establish and communicate procedures for conducting internal safety inspections of the workplace. When approved by the firefighter employer, these procedures shall be used to evaluate the effectiveness of engineering, administrative, and personal protective control measures provided by the firefighter employer to protect firefighter employees from recognized hazards in the work and work environment;
    (b) Establish and communicate procedures approved by the firefighter employer by which the firefighter employer shall investigate all workplace accidents, safety-related incidents, injuries, illnesses, diseases, and fatalities;
    (c) Evaluate the effectiveness of and recommend improvements to the firefighter employer’s safety rules, policies, and procedures for accident and illness prevention programs in the workplace and, when approved by the firefighter employer, ensure that written updates and changes to rules, policies, and procedures of the safety programs are completed; and,
    (d) Seek the input of firefighter employees in complying with the responsibilities of this section.
Rulemaking Authority 633.522 FS. Law Implemented Florida Statutes § 633.522. History-New 9-6-04.