What is a Health and Safety Committee? 

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Chapter 3 of the WHS Regulation 2025 sets out the requirements for how a business manages health and safety in workplaces.

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Part 5 of the WHS Act 2011 addresses representation, consultation and cooperation in regard to an organisation's primary and overarching legal obligation to consult workers on work health and safety matters in the workplace and allow them to contribute to their resolutions .

 

Representatives of the organisation's must consult all people in their workforce who will be or maybe affected by a workplace health and safety matter and get their views and suggestions. With that information, the organisation can make decisions and commit the finances to eliminate or control the risk.

 

Businesses must have systems and processes that facilitate ongoing consultation on WHS matters in the workplace.

 

A health and safety committee may be established as an additional consultative mechanism to help address broader WHS issues and to assist the organisation develop and instigate WHS plans, procedures and measures that support the successful operation of the organisation's WHS management system.  

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Committees meet periodically (at least once every 3 months) to discuss the broader issues. The HSC is not involved in day-to-day operations. Health and safety committees address WHS matters for the workplace as a whole. HSRs deal with the concerns of the people in the work groups they represent within the workplace.

 

HSRs may also be (and usually are) members of the Health and Safety Committee as representatives for their work groups. ​

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SafeWork NSW FACT SHEET​​​

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Running effective HSCs - Solutions to common problems​​