Health and Safety Representatives
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HSRs play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy, safe workplace. If you have occupational health and safety (OHS) problems at work, electing an HSR is the first step.
What is a HSR?
Health and safety representatives are employees who have been elected by their peers to represent their interests in health and safety.
Victoria’s OHS Act 2004 (‘the Act’) is the main piece of OHS legislation. According to the Act, the best way to make a safe and healthy work environment is effective consultation between an employer, employees, and their representatives (if there is an elected HSR, this means the HSR and may also include their union).
Electing an HSR is a vital step to a safe workplace.
A HSR’s role is to represent the members of their designated work group (DWG). As part of the Act, they are given specific powers to investigate and take action to keep people safe at work.
What is a designated work group?
HSRs are elected by the other employees in their DWG. A DWG should be organised or established in a way that best addresses the OHS needs of employees.
DWGs can be requested by you and your colleagues. Your employer must do everything reasonably possible to start negotiations within 14 days of the request. The details of the DWG are negotiated between your employer and your colleagues. You and your colleagues will know the best way to ensure you are effectively represented, so be active in this negotiation! Active workplaces get the best results.
Example:
A council of 100 workers decide they want a greater say around their OHS needs. They want to elect HSRs and they know the first step is to establish DWGs in their workplace. The council has an office with 32 staff, an office with 29 staff, a library with 9 staff, and 30 maintenance staff who travel. They decide to have 4 DWGs. The office staff have similar hazards, but because the offices aren’t close together, they decided they should be different DWGs. The library staff don’t see other workers often and the maintenance staff have unique hazards and risks that non-maintenance workers don’t understand so the library will be 1 DWG and maintenance staff will be another DWG.
When thinking about how your organisation should group DWGs, think about things like location, shift pattern, and the different OHS needs each role has.
What are the steps to electing an HSR?
The process of electing an HSR is broken down here, but it can be confusing sometimes. At any point in the process, ASU members can get advice and assistance from their ASU Organiser or contact the ASU Member Contact Centre (1300 855 570). We have a team of experts who specialise in OHS and workplace organising. When you’re union you’re never alone. The ASU is always by your side.
- Have a chat
Before they elect an HSR, people generally want to know why it’s important. That’s why talking with your colleagues about OHS issues is so important. You can ask them about OHS issues they face and how that affects their work and personal lives. This is a great place to start explaining what an HSR is and how it can help make your workplace safer.
- Map your workplace
HSRs are elected to represent their DWG. Mapping your workplace is important for seeing how DWGs should be grouped. This is a great way to involve other colleagues and teams. DWGs are essential to OHS consultation and representation, so workers should be involved in this process. By doing this, you’ll see how many people you work with, where they work, how they work, and what hazards they face. After you’re done, you’ll have a basic idea of how DWGs should be grouped and how many HSRs each should have.
- Establish your DWG
Once you’ve discussed the DWG structure with your colleagues, you should talk to your employer to begin negotiations. ASU members can nominate to have their ASU Organiser represent them in negotiations.
Your employer will have opinions on how the DWGs should be structured based on business operations, but you and your colleagues know what’s best for your health and safety. Your employer can’t coerce you or your co-workers into doing what they want – the OHS Act specifically states this. You have a right to have your say, and the Act ensures that a DWG should be established in the best interest of the workers. If the employer and employees cannot agree, then WorkSafe is empowered to intervene.
- Elect your HSR
Members of the DWG can elect HSRs once the employer and employees agree on the DWGs. DWGs aren’t limited to 1 HSR. You can have multiple HSRs and even deputy HSRs in a DWG – you’ll have to negotiate the exact amount with your employer. Your employer must also negotiate with employees on how the HSR election will be run. The ASU can advise on how to run fair elections if more people nominate than there are open positions. The job of a HSR is to represent and consult with members of their DWG – you don’t need technical OHS knowledge, and a HSR does not have any duties or responsibilities under the OHS Act.
Elected HSRs have a right to have paid time off work to undergo HSR training, and have the right to decide upon their preferred training provider. The ASU offers accredited HSR training courses, and we encourage all HSRs to undertake union-provided HSR training. HSRs should contact the ASU Training Team at
[email protected] for a list of upcoming courses.
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