My advice is to check each State or Territory
OHS Act, as they differ. My understanding is this for each state:
SA
In South Australia, the Occupational Health Safety & Welfare Act 1986 provides for the
election of Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and the formation of Health and Safety
Committees. There is no legal requirement to have HSRs unless requested by an employee
of the organisation. However, an employer must establish a health and safety committee within
two months of the request of a HSR, or a prescribed number of employees (currently 5), or a
majority of the employees at any workplace.
Vic
In Victoria, the
OHS Act 2004 provides for the election of Health and Safety Representatives
(HSRs) and the formation of Health and Safety Committees.
There is no legal requirement to have HSRs or Committees unless requested by your workers.
You are required to consult with your employees about how consultation will occur in the workplace.
NSW
The
OHS Act 2000 provides for consultation to take place through safety committees, safety
representatives or by other agreed arrangements between the employer and employee.
Whilst there is no legal requirement to have safety representatives or Committees unless
requested by your workers a safety committee is required to be established if a workplace has
more than 20 employees and a majority of those employees request a committee. A safety
representative must be elected if at least one employee at the workplace requests the election of
a safety representative.
You are required to consult with employees on how consultation will occur in the workplace.
QLD
The Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (the Act) provides for the election of Workplace Health
and Safety Representatives (WHSRs) and WHSRs are entitled to request the establishment of a
WHS committee for the workplace. The employer may be directed by the regulator to establish
a committee.
This information is available from Australian Industry Group, so if you are member, have a look there, otherwise I'm sure that there are other groups that can assist you further.
