Training for Health & Safety Committee members
Members of an organisation’s Health and Safety Committee can bring important skills and experience in their workplace to the committee from their position as a worker, HSR, supervisor or manager in the company. They may also need to increase their knowledge, understanding and skills in order to do well in the committee.
The individual knowledge, understanding and skills of all your Health and Safety Committee members needs to be up to the expectations of what the Health and Safety Committee is meant to do and the level of involvement in contributing to decisions relating to health and safety in the workplace.
Other than HSCs that have been put together for specific or temporary WHS projects, HSCs address concerns for the workplace as a whole, not for individual work groups for which HSRs otherwise represent.
Per Section 77 of the WHS Act, there are three areas that the Health and Safety Committee is involved in. They are:
a) to facilitate co-operation between the person conducting the business or undertaking (PCBU) and workers in instigating, developing and carrying out measures designed to ensure the workers’ health and safety at work, ...
In a) above, the HSC serves as a platform for management and workers to collaborate on health and safety matters in the workplace. "Facilitate" means "to make easier." It requires cooperation by all parties to be able to develop proactive and effective WHS measures.
b) to assist in developing standards, rules and procedures relating to health and safety that are to be followed or complied with at the workplace, ...
In b) above, committee members are required to contribute to the development of company standards, rules, and procedures for eventual implementation and compliance. Management cannot just "make up" health and safety rules and procedures without first consulting on the proposals. An HSC member is expected to be knowledgeable and competent to be able to offer valuable contributions that help the business achieve these policy and procedural improvements.
c) any other functions prescribed by the regulations or agreed between the PCBU and the committee.
In c) above, HSCs may be given additional functions in the future by way of additions to the WHS Regulation 2017, but as of 2024 there are no "other functions" prescribed for an HSC in the WHS Regulation.
The second part of 77(c) are duties that have been agreed between the PCBU and the HSC. Such procedures will be business-specific or site-specific, in accordance with the PCBU's duty to consult workers on matters of health and safety as per Sections 47(2) and 47(3) of the WHS Act where it says:
(2) If the person conducting the business or undertaking and the workers have agreed to procedures for consultation, the consultation must be in accordance with those procedures.
(3) The agreed procedures must not be inconsistent with section 48.
Some industries, such as Rail, Air, Sea, and Transport, have their own Regulators or Authorities who have additional WHS requirements that are unique or specific to their industries. An HSC may be ideal to help with meeting such requirements. Under Section 77c, they can.
Section 48 describes how consultation is done. Additionally, Section 49 describes what situations and circumstances require consultation to take place.
Trained Health and Safety committee members
The PCBU must provide the WHS management system for the business. It must also consult on WHS matters.
An HSC is one resource for management to gather and disseminate advice and information to and from all staff and fulfil their legal obligation (as "representatives of the PCBU") to ensure that the business consults staff on WHS matters when required.
On-the-job-training may not fully cover what you need to know in order to participate effectively as a WHS committee member. Courtenell offers training for HSC members, new and experienced.
An HSC whose members are able to positively contribute to the success of the WHS management system are an asset to any organisation.
For more information on WHS training or WHS compliance services, or if you would like help to make your WHS management system even more robust, please feel free to contact us at train@courtenell.com.au or phone us on 02 9552 2066
8th June 2023. Updated 26 June 2024.
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