A health and safety committee is, as the name suggests, a committee comprised of representatives of workers and representatives of the person conducting the business or undertaking, with duties in relation to work health and safety. Such committees will have duties set by the Model Act or Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (Model Regulations) and other duties agreed between the committee and the person conducting the business or undertaking.

Health and safety committees differ from health and safety representatives in two broad ways:

• health and safety committees are not restricted to the concerns of a particular workgroup but can consider the management of health and safety potentially across the whole business or undertaking; and

• a person conducting a business or undertaking cannot decide on their own initiative that the business or undertaking should have health and safety representatives, but can initiate the formation of a health and safety committee.

The composition of a health and safety committee is a matter for negotiation and agreement between the person conducting the business or undertaking and the workers at the workplace. There are some fixed requirements for the composition of health and safety committees. To ensure genuine worker representation, at least half of the members of a committee must be workers who are not nominated by the person conducting the business or undertaking. Unless they do not wish to participate, health and safety representatives are automatically members of the relevant health and safety committee: section 76(2), Model Act. If there is more than one health and safety representative, the representatives may agree among themselves as to who will sit on the committee. More than one health and safety representative can join the committee.

See Health and safety committees.