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Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00408
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the committee must be workers who are not nominated by management.

If you and your workers cannot agree about the health and safety committee in a reasonable time, either party can ask the regulator to appoint an inspector to decide on the make-up of the health and safety committee, or whether it should be established at all.

Section 78: Health and safety committees must meet at least every 3 months.

You can also initiate establishing a committee yourself if you consider it will help you meet your duty to consult and assist your workforce to participate in making health and safety decisions.
A health and safety committee can be a good option if a business has a significant number of workers who are reluctant to take on the role of a health and safety representative, but some
would be willing to participate on a committee. A committee may also be effective for a large business to consult on matters that are the same across a number of work groups or workplaces.
The benefits of a health and safety committee include:
    * having regular, planned and structured discussions about health and safety matters
    * encouraging a co-operative approach to health and safety
    * bringing together a group of worker and business representatives to collaboratively discuss and develop ways of improving the systems for managing health and safety at the workplace
    * encouraging the development and retention of corporate knowledge on health and safety matters for the workplace.
The membership of the health and safety committee should be determined by agreement between you and the workers at the workplace to be represented by the committee.
When a workplace has both a health and safety committee and health and safety representatives then there should be a clear distinction between their roles.

    * Health and safety representatives are involved with the specific health and safety issues relevant to the work group they represent.
    * The health and safety committee is the forum for consultation on the management of health and safety across the whole workforce.  It should consider the development, implementation and review of the policies and procedures associated with the organisation's work health and safety system.
If the workplace has a health and safety committee but does not have health and safety representatives, the committee may consider the issues that a health and safety representative would normally be involved in.

The Worker Representation and Participation Guide provides further information on health and safety representatives and committees.

4.4        Sharing consultation arrangements with other duty holders
If you have contractors or on-hire workers as part of your workforce you share a duty of care to these workers as well as consultation duties with the business