Dear Renata
At my workplace we are due for our quarterly Health and Safety Committee (HSC) meeting. We have 12 DWGs with one HSR for each.
Our employer has sent an email telling us which HSRs (four in total) they have scheduled to attend this meeting.
Could you please advise me how many of us are legally able to attend and how we decide this? Is the employer legally obliged to provide shift swaps and or overtime if we wish to attend?
It sounds as though there is no agreement regarding the membership (and size?) of the Health and Safety Committee. This is the first step. The Act does not set the number of people who can or must be on the Committee – it just specifies that at least half must be employees (and, so far as is reasonably practicable, health and safety representatives or deputy HSRs) (s72)
But remember that under s35 (1)(e) the employer has a duty to consult when “determining the membership of any health and safety committee”. So, the employer just ‘telling’ you that only four HSRs, and nominating who these are, is not acceptable. Things you need to be consulted about:
- size of committee – how many in total, how many HSRs/Deputies. The committee should not be too large (eg having 12 HSRs plus however many management reps would probably be too large)
- how the employee reps will be chosen – NOT by management, preferably. It would be appropriate for the HSRs themselves to decide which of them will be on the committee. The others could be proxies or stand-ins if any of the committee member HSRs are unable to attend (for example if they are ill or on leave when the committee is due to meet).
- How the committee functions, how often it meets, its procedures, roles (including who chairs it) and so on.
Once the membership has been consulted on (though not necessarily AGREED – but if the employer does not take into account at all what the employees/HSRs want, then this can be challenged as not being genuine consultation.
With regards to shift swaps/overtime – this is what the WorkSafe Representation Guide says:
“Employee representatives (on the committee) and/or HSRs should be given time (during work hours) to prepare for and attend committee meetings and for reporting the outcomes to other HSRs and employees in the workplace.”
Go to this page for more information on Health and Safety Committees, including a link to the WorkSafe guide, which you can refer to and show the employer. If you have any issues/concerns, then I recommend that you contact your union for extra support and advice. In addition, check our pages on Consultation:
- Duty to consult – there is a handy record of consultation you can use
- A proforma email for you to send your employer notifying them that you believe there has been a failure to consult