Do you require an elected HSR on a building site if you already have a full-time WHS coordinator?

If you run a construction site or work on one, you will be aware of the array of work health and safety requirements in place to minimise risk and optimise the safety of all workers and visitors. You may even have a full-time WHS coordinator on site. 

But should you also have a health and safety rep?

Do WHS legal requirements include an HSR?

There is no legal requirement to have an elected health and safety representative (HSR) unless a staff member asks an employer to hold an election for an HSR. It makes no difference if you have a full-time WHS coordinator on site.

If an employer receives such a request, it is obliged, within two weeks of receiving the request, to negotiate with the staff to form one or more workgroups to be represented by the HSR. The purpose of the negotiations is to agree on the number and composition of the workgroups, and the number of HSRs and deputy HSRs (if any) to be elected.

Electing an HSR

The members of the workgroup may determine how the election of an HSR is to be conducted (for example, with or without the assistance of a member of a union or other organisation).

All the employees in the workgroup are entitled to vote in an election for an HSR. However, an election need not be held if the number of candidates equals the number of vacancies – for example if there is only one workgroup, that group has decided they only need one HSR, and only one person is interested in being an HSR.

If you don’t receive a request from a staff member to hold an election for an HSR, there is no legal requirement to have one.

However, the need to consult workers (so far as is reasonably practicable) about work health and safety matters still applies.

Consultation is required in relation to the following health and safety matters:

  • when identifying hazards and assessing risks to health and safety arising from the work to be carried out
  • when making decisions about ways to eliminate or minimise those risks
  • when making decisions about the adequacy of facilities for the welfare of workers
  • when proposing changes that may affect the health or safety of workers
  • when making decisions about the procedures for:    
    •             consulting with workers
    •             resolving work health or safety issues at the workplace
    •             monitoring the health of workers
    •             monitoring the conditions at any workplace under the management
                  or control of the employer, or
    •           providing information and training for workers.

Consultation requires that:

  • relevant information about health and safety matters is shared with staff
  • workers are given the opportunity to express their views and contribute to the decision-making process (e.g. to resolve a health and safety issue) and
  • workers consulted are advised of the outcome of the consultation in a timely manner.

If such consultation is not carried out through an elected HSR, another mechanism for consultation must be agreed upon with the workers. The mechanism for consultation may be relatively informal, as long as the above conditions are satisfied.