Forest Operations > Organisational Requirements > Committee Structures

Committee Structures

Safety legislation outlines the requirement for employees to be represented on committees within the workplace to discuss issues relating to health, safety and welfare.

Depending on the size of your workplace, there may be a formal Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) committee which meets regularly to discuss safety matters.

Functions of a Safety Committee include:

• Talks between employer and employees;
• Make recommendations for changes to programs and procedures;
• Consider matters referred to the committee.

Occupational Health and Safety  Representatives (OHS Reps)

Employees can ask for the election of a health and safety representative for the workplace at any time.

Where a request is made, the employer is required to invite the employees to select safety representatives to stand for them.

This can be done through an election process, but if only one candidate is nominated then there is no need to have an election.

Functions of an OHS  Rep include:

• Carry out workplace inspections;
• Conduct investigations in the event of an accident, or near miss;
• Keep informed and talk with all relevant parties;
• Report hazards to the employer;
• Refer matters to the OHS  committee;
• Talk to, and work with, the employer relating to safety;
• Work with employees concerning safety matters (Fig 2).

Fig 2. Safety & Health Rep talking to an operator about a machine safety issue

Employers should provide training so that Health and Safety  Reps can perform their duties.

Employers are not required to pay any additional wage to Health and Safety Reps.