Health & Safety Committees (HSC) Overview
What is a Health and Safety Committee?
Chapter 3 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 sets out requirements for managing work health and safety (WHS) in the workplace.
Part 5 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 addresses representation, consultation and cooperation, supporting an organisation’s overarching duty to consult workers on WHS matters and give them opportunities to contribute to decisions about how those matters are resolved.
Organisations in NSW must consult workers who are, or are likely to be, affected by a WHS matter and consider their views and suggestions before making decisions about how the matter will be addressed. Officers of the organisation have a duty to ensure appropriate systems and processes are in place to meet these obligations. Part 5 of the WHS Act also provides for the establishment of work groups and Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) to represent the people in those work groups.
A Health and Safety Committee (HSC) may also be established as an additional consultation mechanism to address broader WHS issues and help the organisation develop and implement WHS plans, procedures and measures that support the effective operation of its WHS management system.
Health and Safety Committees must meet at least once every three months to discuss broader workplace health and safety issues. The HSC focuses on WHS matters affecting the workplace as a whole rather than day-to-day operational concerns.
HSRs are automatically members of the HSC unless they choose not to be. This allows them to contribute the concerns and perspectives of the workers they represent to broader workplace health and safety discussions.
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