Under the Model Work Health and Safety Act (Model Act) workers may elect health and safety representatives to represent them in relation to health and safety matters at work.

It is not mandatory that every workplace has a health and safety representative. The process begins when a worker makes a request to the person conducting the business or undertaking for that person to facilitate the election of a health and safety representative or health and safety representatives to represent the person’s workers.

Once the request has been made, the person conducting the business or undertaking must facilitate the election. The first step in the election is the determination of workgroups. This determination process takes place through negotiation and agreement between the person conducting the business or undertaking and the workers who will form the workgroup or their representatives.

Once the number and composition of work groups, and the number of health and safety representative (and deputy health and safety representatives, if any) for each work group has been determined, the election of those representatives can proceed.

See Determination of workgroups and election of health and safety representatives in the workplace.

The Model Act does not impose a duty on health and safety representatives to exercise any of their powers or functions.

The primary functions of health and safety representatives are to:

• represent workers in their work group in relation to health and safety matters at work;

• monitor compliance with the Model Act; and

• investigate complaints and enquire into risks.

Health and safety representatives have enforcement powers including:

• directing a work group member to cease unsafe work;

• issuing a provisional improvement notice; and

• requesting a review of a control measure where the duty holder has not adequately reviewed the control measure as required under the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (Model Regulations): regulations 38, 401, 430 and 559 Model Regulations.

The person conducting the business or undertaking is required to cooperate with, and facilitate the functions of the health and safety representative.

See Powers and functions of health and safety representatives.

Persons conducting a business or undertaking are obliged to cooperate with and facilitate the functions of a health and safety representative. Persons conducting a business or undertaking face penalties if they refuse to comply with their general obligations.

Specific obligations of the person conducting the business or undertaking include:

• anti-victimisation provisions;

• allowing health and safety representatives time to meet obligations and at full pay;

• keeping lists of health and safety representatives; and

• providing training for the health and safety representative if requested by the representative.

Exceptions to the obligations relate to:

• persons assisting the health and safety representative;

• training in multi-business work groups; and

• provision of personal or medical information that identifies or could reasonably be expected to identify individual workers.

See Obligations of the person conducting the business or undertaking relating to health and safety representatives.

Under the Model Act, and within specified boundaries, workers may decline to carry out unsafe work where:

• the worker makes a decision about the safety of the work where:

• a health and safety representative (who has undergone approved training in relation to their power to direct unsafe work to cease) gives a direction not to engage in unsafe work.

There are a number of procedural requirements associated with the cessation of work due to safety concerns that must be complied with (for example, notification requirements).

Workers must remain available to perform suitable alternative work until the workers can resume normal duties.

See Ceasing unsafe work.

Health and safety representatives have the power to issue provisional improvement notices to a person with a duty under the Model Work Health and Safety Act (Model Act). The notice requires that person to address a contravention under the Model Act or the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (Model Regulations).

Health and safety representatives require approved special training in relation to this power and the provisional improvement notice must contain specified minimum content in order to be valid. Furthermore, the health and safety representative must reasonably believe that the person is either presently contravening a provision of the Model Act or Model Regulations, or has contravened a provision of the Model Act or Model Regulations in the past and is likely to continue or repeat the contravention.

Consultation with the person on whom the notice is proposed to be issued is also a pre-condition to the issue of a provisional improvement notice.

See Issue of provisional improvement notices.

Provisional improvement notices are provisional to the extent that they are subject to review and a work health and safety inspector can set them aside or vary them.

Specified persons may make a request to the regulator for review of the notice within 7 days of its issue. The effect of the request is that the notice is temporarily suspended until it has been reviewed and a decision has been made. Inspectors can affirm (with or without changes) or cancel the notice and will give copies of and reasons for their decisions to the applicant who sought review of the notice and to the health and safety representative. The inspector’s decision can itself be subject to review.

See Review of provisional improvement notices.

The person issued with a provisional improvement notice has two broad obligations:

• to display the notice; and

• to comply with the notice.

Both of these requirements are subject to a penalty for failure to comply.

See Obligations of the person served with a provisional improvement notice.