In an unprecedented move, SafeWork NSW has issued Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) with an improvement notice after allegations that FRNSW was breaching its duty to consult workers via regular health and safety meetings.
The Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) requested SafeWork NSW investigate FRNSW’s failure to coordinate meetings of the State Health and Safety Committee (SHSC), denying members the opportunity to discuss key safety issues, including the FRNSW proposal to change the safe and minimum crewing numbers.
NSW OHS legislation requires health and safety committee meetings to be held at least every three months. The FRNSW have been claiming for almost a year that they are unable to resource the SHSC meetings.
According to the improvement notice the SHSC meetings had not occurred since September 2024 and only one was scheduled for 2025. Upon receiving the PIN from SafeWork NSW the FRNSW immediately scheduled a SHSC meeting.
The FBEU in a recent bulletin said, "The breach, while simple in nature, is far from trivial, indicative of FRNSW's inability to grasp their most basic safety duties to workers."
Given the incredibly dangerous nature of the work performed by firefighters it is appalling that their employer is not complying with such a basic duty of safety law. It also seems contrary to claim that they are unable to resource the meetings whilst also proposing cuts to crewing numbers.
Regular health and safety committee meetings are a key part of the chain of legislated representation that employees are afforded in safety legislation in Australia. A shocking number of HSRs report to us their employer’s failure to either hold the meetings, or to populate the committee according to legislation. At least half of the members of a health and safety committee must be employees (preferably HSRs), and allowance must be made for the scheduling of the meetings to enable all members to attend.
It is not unusual for HSRs from large organisations to report to us that they have no access to the regional or state versions of their employer’s health and safety committee, or that they are unable to attend due to rostering or shift issues. We recommend contacting your union in those cases and escalating the issue.
You can learn more about health and safety committees on our OHS Reps Health and Safety Committees and HSC - What is their role? pages. Employers can seek further guidance in the WorkSafe Victoria publication Guide to Part 7 - Employee representation handbook for workplaces.
Read more: FBEU | Safe Work NSW issue PIN on FRNSW safety failures