Health and Safety Committees (HSCs) bring together workers and people leaders to develop and review health and safety policies and practices for the workplace.
The main functions of an HSC are to:
- make it easy for the workplaces and workers to cooperate on ways to ensure workers’ health and safety
- assist in developing standards, rules, and policies or procedures for health and safety at work
- make recommendations relating to work health and safety
- carry out other tasks agreed between the business and the HSC.
Does your workplace need to have an HSC?
Five or more workers or a Health and Safety Representative (HSR) can request that the business establishes an HSC.
If the business has 20+ workers, or operates in a high-risk industry, the business must grant this request. If the business has fewer than 20 workers, or isn’t considered high-risk, it is not required to establish an HSC.
Any business can choose to establish an HSC even if an HSR or workers have not asked for one.
Who is a part of an HSC?
HSCs bring together workers, worker representatives (HSRs), and at least one business representative who can make health and safety decisions. There’s no specific size requirements for HSCs, but the membership must be agreed by the business and workers.
We will continue to cover the topic of HSCs over the next two editions of the Kanohi Kitea.
|