The Benefits of Training the Chairperson of a Health & Safety Committee
There is no law that specifically says that a PCBU must train the Chairperson of their Health & Safety Committee. But common sense tells us that if you have a committee chairperson then you want that Chairperson to be effective in their role.
And you will notice that the Consultation Code of Practice* explains how to achieve effective consultation in Part 3 What is Effective Consultation? It also makes the point that;
“Management commitment and open communication between managers and workers is important in achieving effective consultation.”
How to increase the Effectiveness of Chairpersons
We find that Chairpersons can be more effective in their role after training and interaction with other chairpersons regarding;
the purpose and role of the Health and Safety Committee,
the role of the Chairperson in the decision-making process and in ensuring the Committee has effective impact,
how to work through a conflict-resolving process to handle difficult situations,
how to review the effectiveness of the Committee so that improvements can be made,
the factors which can inhibit the Committee members from working effectively as a group and know how to deal with them,
how to prepare for and chair an effective committee meeting,
how to draw up an action plan,
handling any other matters raised by Chairpersons during the training.
Typical Responses of Chairpersons Who Received Training
For example, here are the main responses given by Chairpersons at a course we recently delivered onsite where the client has a number of Health & Safety Committees.
How will the course affect your role as a Chairperson?
Better and more effective meetings
I will be more confident
Ideas gained to improve effectiveness of the committee
Increase my confidence as a chairperson
What did you gain from the course?
A better understanding of how to be an effective chair and manage the committee and meetings
New skills for chairing meetings
What did you like most about the course?
Excellent background and relevant examples
How to manage meetings
It was thorough, I liked the examples given
Trainer rating?
Excellent/very good
Trainer very knowledgeable/ thorough, very informative.
Note:
*The quotation in this article is from the Work Health & Safety Consultation, Co-operation, and Co-ordination Code of Practice and Safe Work Australia owns the copyright and licences its use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit creativecommons.org/licenses. In essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to Safe Work Australia and abide by the other licence terms. 27th August 2019
Public Course Dates
Month Day Code Venue
September Mon 16 CITC9 City
October Wed 16 BLAC10 Blacktown
