A health and safety committee exists to “facilitate co-operation between the person conducting a business or undertaking and employees in instigating, developing and carrying out measures designed to ensure the employees' health and safety at work.”

It will also “assist in developing standards, rules and procedures relating to health and safety that are to be followed or complied with at the workplace,” according to the model Work Health and Safety Act.

A committee is therefore practical for everything from risk management to creating safety procedures. But once a committee has been established, must the members meet at certain times?

Safety committee meeting frequency

Section 78 of the model Work Health and Safety Act provides that a health and safety committee must meet “at least once every three months” and “at any reasonable time at the request of at least half of the members of the committee”.

While training for health and safety committees is not compulsory, committee members have the right to request WHS training – in a course approved by the relevant jurisdiction’s regulator – under s72 of the WHS Act.

Regulation 21 of the model Work Health Safety Regulations, titled ‘Training for health and safety representatives', provides that members are entitled to attend an initial five-day course of training plus one day’s refresher training each year – an entitlement starting one year after the initial training.

As to the specific content of WHS training for committee members, Regulation 72 provides:

“(2) In approving a course of training in work health and safety for the purposes of section 72(1) of the Act, the regulator may have regard to all relevant matters, including:

(a)  the content and quality of the curriculum, including its relevance to the powers and functions of a health and safety representative, and

(b)  the qualifications, knowledge and experience of the person who is to provide the course.

(3)  The regulator may revoke or vary an approval under this clause.

(4)  The regulator may impose conditions on an approval under this clause and may vary those conditions.”

Note: Regulation 72 prescribes courses of training to which committee members are entitled. In addition to these courses, the health and safety representative and the person conducting the business or undertaking may agree that committee members will attend or receive further training.