Health and Safety Committee

Purpose

To promote health and safety to protect the people and the resources of the business by: 

• Providing advice and support to staff and managers on health and safety issues pertinent to the safe and effective running of the business.
• Monitoring health and safety practices to ensure compliance with health and safety legislation.
• Encouraging awareness of health and safety principles, standards, policies and procedures for all employees and visitors to the business.
• Assisting with the annual review of the health and safety policy.
  
  

Membership

By law:

• One member appointed by the business must be authorised to make decisions on behalf of the business.
• At least half the members must be workers and must not have been nominated by the business.
• Each health and safety representative is eligible to be a member.
  
  

You can access our Committee members here.

Additional members may be co-opted to meetings, at the discretion of the Chairperson, in relation to specific agenda items.

Sub-committees and working parties will be established as required to consider specific topics.  Such sub-committees will prepare recommendations for consideration by the Committee.

Function of Members

The members of the Committee will:

• Represent their work groups.
• Act in an advisory capacity on health and safety issues relevant to the business. 
• Assist with health and safety training, health and safety education and awareness programmes.
• Assist in identifying resources and assist with the management of health and safety within the business.
• Assist in developing and maintaining compliance with relevant legislation by resourcing and recommending audit tools to ensure internal compliance with our policies and procedures, and external compliance with the minimum legal standards of legislation.
• Assist with health and safety monitoring through internal and external verification audits.       
• Promote the reporting of hazards and the follow up of hazards to ensure controls are developed, put in place, used, reviewed and maintained.
• Recommend accident prevention initiatives through contact with external health and safety resource areas.
• Review accident and incident protocols and procedures for reporting, recording, investigating and implementing controls to ensure contributory factors and system failures are identified.
• Monitor workplace inspection checklists to ensure external compliance with the legislation.
• Overview internal compliance with work procedures and special methods.
  
  

Operation of the Committee

The Chairperson will be responsible for developing the operating procedures of the Committee.  This will be done in consultation with the Health and Safety Representatives. 

Where the designated member is not available the work group concerned will nominate a worker to deputise for the member.

All members of the Committee have an individual responsibility to keep all staff informed regarding the management of health and safety, its achievements and future direction.

Formal minutes are to be kept of each meeting held.  Here you can can access templates for the Meeting Minutes.

Frequency of Meetings

The Health and Safety Committee will meet monthly.  The number of meetings will be increased if necessary to ensure that issues are considered in a timely manner.

Appointment and Tenure

All Health and Safety Representatives are eligible to be on the committee.  If further members are required they will be elected according to a process agreed by the Committee.  In some situations the Committee may invite a worker to be a member.

Members will be appointed for a term of up to three years and are then eligible for reappointment.