Consultation

What is Consultation

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) consultation involves:

• The sharing of relevant information about OHS and welfare with employees.
• Giving employees the opportunity to express their views and to contribute to the resolution of OHS and welfare issues.
• Valuing the views of employees and taking them into account.
• Consultation enables employees to contribute to the decisions that affect their health, safety and welfare.

Consultation involves not only giving information to employees but also listening and considering employees' opinions before making any health and safety decisions. It helps employers and employees to work together to seek solutions that lead to healthier and safer workplaces.

Employers and consultation

Your Employer has a responsibility to consult with:

• Any relevant HSRs and OHS Committees on any proposed changes to any workplace where those changes might affect the health safety or welfare of employees at the workplace.
• Any relevant HSRs & OHS Committees on the occupational health, safety and welfare practices, procedures and policies that are to be followed at the workplace, and
• Any relevant HSRs and OHS Committees on any proposed changes to occupational health, safety and welfare practices, procedures or policies.

Consulting your employer

If you find a health and safety problem in your workplace you must tell your employer so the issue can be resolved.

Consultation provides you and your employer with an opportunity to:

• Consider and discuss the issue.
• Evaluate the health and safety issue.
• Listen to each other's views so they can be taken into consideration when deciding what action should be taken.
• Find a solution that meets everybody's needs .

If the problem can't be resolved, the Health and Safety Representative (HSR) should raise the issue with the Occupational Health and Safety Committee (if there is one) to resolve the problem. If there is no committee in your workplace, your representative can refer the issue to a

If after taking these steps your Health and Safety Representative still believes the problem has not been satisfactorily resolved, your representative can issue a default notice requiring your employer to fix the issue.