Hi Renata – Yesterday my employer said that they want to change the terms of reference for our Health and Safety committee meetings. They are proposing that a quorum can be reached with 3 members (1 employee rep and 2 employer reps). I stated I do not believe this is allowed as the employer would have two-thirds of the votes on any matters. Does it need the HSR to agree to changing the terms of reference or can the employer do it without a mutual agreement?
You are correct about your employer’s quorum comments – the OHS Act is pretty clear about health and safety committees, an although the Act doesn’t set the number of people who can or must be on the Committee – it specifies that at least half must be employees (and so far as is reasonably practicable, health and safety representatives or deputy HSRs) (s72). That requirement would logically also apply to an agreed quorum – it must be at least half employees.
You are also correct about reviewing the terms of reference for the meeting – under s.35(1)(d)(ii) and 35(1)I the employer has a duty to consult with HSRs and employees when making decisions about procedure for consulting and when ‘determining the membership of any health and safety committee’.
Section 72(5) specifically states that the Health and Safety Committee is to regulate its own procedures. The procedures should be agreed between the parties after consultation on the following items:
- size of committee – how many in total, how many HSRs/DHSRs. The committee should not be too large (e.g. having 12 HSRs plus however many management reps would probably be too large)
- how the employee reps will be selected – preferably NOT by management. It would be appropriate for the HSRs to decide which of them will be on the committee. The other members could be proxies or stand-ins if any of the committee member HSRs are unable to attend (e.g., if they are ill or on leave).
- How the committee functions, how often it meets, its procedures, roles (including who chairs it) and so on.
I encourage you to have a look at our Health and Safety Committees – OHS Reps page, which includes a link to the WorkSafe Representation guide, which you can refer to and show the employer.
Of particular interest is this guidance from WorkSafe on page 69 of the Employee Representation guide – Employee representatives 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. This is important to be sure that employers are not scheduling meetings to deliberately limit the number of employee representatives that can attend any given meeting
If you have any issues/concerns, then I recommend that you contact your union for extra support and advice.