Health and Safety Representatives and Committees

Contributed by Anne Aziz-Parker, with Catherine Matthews and Richard Muir and current to August 2018.

A health and safety committee is a useful forum for consultation on work health and safety issues. A committee enables persons in control of a business or undertaking and worker representatives to meet regularly and work co-operatively to develop policies and procedures to improve work health and safety outcomes.

A person in control of a business or undertaking must establish a health and safety committee within two months after being requested to do so by a health and safety representative or five or more workers at the workplace. However, a person in control of a business or undertaking can also decide on their own initiative to establish a health and safety committee for their workplace.

The membership of a health and safety committee may be agreed between a person in control of a business or undertaking and the workers at the workplace. Representatives of the person in control of a business or undertaking should be drawn from senior managers, managers, supervisors, safety officers, technical experts and personnel officers. This ensures that the committee is provided with the necessary level of decision making, knowledge and expertise regarding company policy, production needs and technical matters concerning premises, processes, plant, machinery and equipment, and systems of work.

Health and safety representatives are usually automatically members of the health and safety committee and at least half of the members must be workers who have not been nominated by the person in control of a business or undertaking.

If workers and a person in control of a business or undertaking cannot agree on the constitution of a health and safety committee within a reasonable time, any party may ask the regulator to appoint an inspector to decide the matter.

The inspector can decide the constitution of the health and safety committee or that the committee should not be established. The inspector’s decision is taken to be an agreement between the workers and the person in control of a business or undertaking. However, if an affected worker, a person in control of a business or undertaking or health and safety representative does not agree with the inspector’s decision, they can request the regulator to review the decision.

Health and Safety Representatives

Health and safety representatives and deputy health and safety representatives must be elected by members of the work group they will represent.

Workers from the work group determine how an election is to be conducted (if one is needed). Any persons in control of a business or undertaking must be informed of the election date as soon as practicable after the date has been decided. Members of the work group and relevant person in control of a business or undertaking must also be informed of the election outcome.

The election process may be informal, for example with a show of hands. Alternatively it may involve a more formal process such as the use of ballots. If the majority of workers in a work group agree, the election may be conducted with the assistance of a union or other organisation or person.

If there is more than one work group, there needs to be a separate process to elect health and safety representatives for each one.

A health and safety representative's term of office can be up to three years. If re-elected, another term of office would begin.

However a person ceases to be a health and safety representative if:

• they resign as a health and safety representative by giving the person in control of a business or undertaking written notice;
• they no longer work in the work group;
• the person is disqualified from acting as a health and safety representative; or,
• the majority of members (half the number plus one) of the work group decide that the person should no longer represent the work group.

Health and safety representatives have duties as workers under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and a health and safety representative cannot be held personally liable and cannot be prosecuted for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith:

• when exercising a power or performing a function under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011; or,
• in the reasonable belief that the thing done or omitted to be done was authorised under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

Acting in good faith involves carrying out health and safety representative powers and functions with honest and sincere intentions or beliefs by:

• taking reasonable care for their own health and safety;
• taking reasonable care not to adversely affect the health and safety of others;
• complying with any reasonable instructions given by the person in control of a business or undertaking to allow them to comply with their duties; and,
• cooperating with any reasonable policy or procedure relating to health and safety at the workplace.

Deputy Health and Safety Representatives

In the absence of the health and safety representative, a deputy effectively becomes the health and safety representative and has the powers of that role.

Deputy health and safety representatives are elected in the same way as health and safety representatives. Most arrangements apply equally to deputy health and safety representatives as they do to health and safety representatives, including:

• term of office;
• grounds for disqualification;
• health and safety representative immunity; and,
• entitlement to training.

Responsibilities of Health and Safety Representatives

The health and safety representative has a major role to play in representing members of their work group and bringing issues to the attention of the person in control of a business or undertaking.

The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 sets out specific powers and functions that a health and safety representative can perform in the interests of the workers they represent. The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 however does not impose mandatory obligations or duties on the health and safety representative to carry out the powers and functions.

The powers and functions of health and safety representatives are to:

• represent the workers in their work group in relation to work health and safety matters;
• monitor the measures taken by the person in control of a business or undertaking to comply with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 in relation to their work group members;
• investigate complaints from work group members about work health and safety; and,
• inquire into anything that appears to be a risk to the health or safety of work group members, arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking.

In exercising a power or performing a function, health and safety representatives may:

• inspect the workplace where their work group works at any time after giving reasonable notice to the person in control of a business or undertaking;
• inspect the workplace where their work group works at any time without notice in the event of an incident or any situation involving a serious risk to the health or safety of a person emanating from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard;
• accompany an inspector during an inspection of any part of the workplace where their work group works (inspectors must, as soon as practicable after entering a workplace, take reasonable steps to notify the relevant person in control of a business or undertaking as well as any health and safety representatives of the entry);
• attend interviews between one or more work group members and an inspector or the person in control of a business or undertaking;
• request the establishment of a health and safety committee;
• receive information concerning the work health and safety of workers in the work group;
• whenever necessary, request the assistance of any person;
• in some circumstances, direct a work group member to cease unsafe work or issue a provisional improvement notice; and,
• in some circumstances, request a review of a control measure where the duty holder has not adequately reviewed the control measure as required under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011.

Obligations to Health and Safety Representatives

A person in control of a business or undertaking must:

• consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with health and safety representatives on work health and safety matters at the workplace;
• confer with a health and safety representative, whenever reasonably requested by the representative, to ensure the health and safety of the work group workers;
• allow a health and safety representative access to information that the person in control of a business or undertaking has relating to hazards and risks affecting the health and safety of the workers in the work group;
• allow a health and safety representative access to information relating to the health and safety of the work group workers;
• allow health and safety representatives to attend interviews concerning work health and safety between one or more workers (with their consent) and an inspector or another person conducting the business or undertaking at the workplace (or their representative);
• provide their health and safety representatives with resources, facilities and assistance that are reasonably necessary to enable the health and safety representative to exercise their powers and perform their functions under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011;
• allow a person assisting a health and safety representative to have access to the workplace if it is necessary to enable the assistance to be provided;
• permit the health and safety representatives to accompany an inspector during an inspection of any part of the workplace where a member of the health and safety representative’s work group works;
• provide any assistance to the health and safety representative required by the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011;
• allow the health and safety representative as much time as is reasonably necessary to perform their powers and functions under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011; and,
• pay health and safety representatives performing their role the same amount they are entitled to receive when performing their normal duties.

Keeping a List of Health and Safety Representatives

Keeping a list of health and safety representatives enables workers to find out who can represent them if a work health and safety issue arises. To ensure the list is readily accessible to workers, the person in control of a business or undertaking must display the list in a place that is accessible to all relevant work groups such as on a notice board or on the workplace intranet.

A person in control of a business or undertaking must also provide a copy of the up to date list to the regulator as soon as practicable after it is prepared.

Health and Safety Committees

A health and safety committee is a useful forum for consultation on work health and safety issues. A committee enables persons in control of a business or undertaking and worker representatives to meet regularly and work co-operatively to develop policies and procedures to improve work health and safety outcomes.

A person in control of a business or undertaking must establish a health and safety committee within two months after being requested to do so by a health and safety representative or five or more workers at the workplace. However, a person in control of a business or undertaking can also decide on their own initiative to establish a health and safety committee for their workplace.

The membership of a health and safety committee may be agreed between a person in control of a business or undertaking and the workers at the workplace. Representatives of the person in control of a business or undertaking should be drawn from senior managers, managers, supervisors, safety officers, technical experts and personnel officers. This ensures that the committee is provided with the necessary level of decision making, knowledge and expertise regarding company policy, production needs and technical matters concerning premises, processes, plant, machinery and equipment, and systems of work.

Health and safety representatives are usually automatically members of the health and safety committee and at least half of the members must be workers who have not been nominated by the person in control of a business or undertaking.

If workers and a person in control of a business or undertaking cannot agree on the constitution of a health and safety committee within a reasonable time, any party may ask the regulator to appoint an inspector to decide the matter.

The inspector can decide the constitution of the health and safety committee or that the committee should not be established. The inspector’s decision is taken to be an agreement between the workers and the person in control of a business or undertaking. However, if an affected worker, a person in control of a business or undertaking or health and safety representative does not agree with the inspector’s decision, they can request the regulator to review the decision.

Health and Safety Committee Functions

Health and safety committees can consider the management of health and safety across the whole workforce. In this way, the activities of the health and safety committee can complement the role of the health and safety representatives, whose powers are usually limited to issues affecting their particular work group.

Health and safety committee functions include:

• facilitating co-operation between the person in control of a business or undertaking and workers to instigate, develop and carry out measures to secure the work health and safety of workers;
• assisting in developing health and safety standards, rules and procedures that will be followed or complied with at the workplace; and,
• other functions agreed by the person in control of a business or undertaking and members of the health and safety committee.

Health and Safety Representative Training

It is not mandatory for health and safety representatives to be trained. However, health and safety representatives should be encouraged to take up their training entitlement to provide them with the skills and knowledge to perform their role effectively. Health and safety representatives can issue provisional improvement notices and direct work to cease only if they have been trained. Untrained health and safety representatives can perform all other functions.

Health and safety representatives and deputy health and safety representatives are entitled to attend an initial training course of five days. They are also entitled to one day's refresher training each year, with the first refresher training commencing one year after the initial training.

A person in control of a business or undertaking must allow each health and safety representative and deputy health and safety representative paid time off to attend training. Training should be arranged within a period of three months after the request is made and the person in control of a business or undertaking must pay the course fees and any other reasonable costs associated with the health and safety representative’s attendance at the training.

If the person in control of a business or undertaking and health and safety representative cannot come to a timely agreement about training either party may ask the regulator to appoint an inspector to decide the matter. If a person in control of a business or undertaking or health and safety representative does not agree with the inspector’s decision, they can request the regulator to review the decision.