Madeleine Harradence, Assistant Secretary of ANMF (Vic Branch)
Health and safety representatives (HSRs) are a vital – and legally protected – role in every workplace. They are nurses, midwives and carers who strive to improve theirs and their colleagues’ health, safety and conditions at work.
Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 sets out specific powers that may be exercised by HSRs – for instance, an HSR can legally require the establishment of a health and safety committee, or issue a provisional improvement notice after consultation with the employer.
ANMF has a team of occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals and experienced industrial officers and organisers who are here to support HSRs in their role. But if we don’t know who the HSRs are at any given workplace, or in any given designated work group (DWG), it is difficult for us to provide this support.
Because of this, the 2024 public sector EBA contains new requirements for employers to tell us who the HSRs are in any given DWG*.
*A DWG is a group of employees that perform similar jobs or have similar OHS concerns. A DWG is properly represented on OHS issues by their elected HSR/s. DWGs are often ward based, with the group including the nurses and midwives on a particular ward.
What are the new public sector requirements around HSR lists?
The Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) Single Interest Employers Enterprise Agreement 2024-28 contains an expanded clause 102.1 (e), outlining the obligation on employers to provide ANMF with the names of each DWG’s HSRs, as well as information pertaining to the HSRs.
Specifically, the clause says:
‘Immediately following 30 March and 30 September each year, Employers will provide a copy of the DWG list in the format set out below, preferably in Microsoft Excel, with the names of the HSR(s) relevant to Employees as well as other information set out below where practicable.’
This is significant because previously, whilst employers were supposed to provide this list on a yearly basis, or upon request, the reality was that these were only provided on an ad-hoc basis and often contained incorrect, out of date and inconsistent information.
This was problematic because it meant that at no point through the yearly cycle could the Branch be sure that we had the most up-to-date information to effectively communicate with public sector HSRs, and therefore found that inevitably DWG information was often out of date.
When we get a Change Impact Statement, for example, it is critical that HSRs are involved in consultation, particularly where there are changes to buildings or structures, or work processes. This process has been embedded in a new clause around centralised building consultative committees. Without up-to-date information, we don’t know who to contact.
Now all public sector employers must provide us HSR lists twice a year, on the above set dates, which means that HSRs will receive information specifically relevant to them (unless they opt out), and ANMF has contacts in the workplace. These contacts can be used where we have OHS issues reported by other members and we need to verify them, or where there are building works requiring HSR involvement, or indeed where we become aware of issues across workplaces that might affect members and we need to talk to HSRs.
Having access to this information is also vital for ANMF to map workplaces and understand where our HSRs are working – and workplaces/DWGs that don’t have HSRs.
There is evidence that workplaces/DWGs with HSRs are safer due to their ability to raise health and safety concerns with their employer and request consultation on workplace hazards. Additionally, HSRs are provided with powers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 that allow them to request information, be involved in safety committees, issue provisional improvement notices to their employer, or service requests to WorkSafe; they must also be consulted on any health and safety issues that impact (or may impact) their workplace
Implementation and compliance
The Branch will be writing to public sector employers reminding them of this clause. Workplace implementation committees (WICs) will be essential to ensuring that employers comply with the requirements of the clause.
Unfortunately, we often receive HSR lists that are incomplete, out of date or missing key information. Consequently, it will also be vital that WICs ensure that implementation of the clause involves:
- checking the information provided is up to date and correct, and
- enforcing compliance where there is pushback or no response.
Given that HSRs must be re-elected at least every three years, any list that contains election dates that are older than three years is effectively out of date, and should be questioned.
Additionally, wherever an HSR has not undertaken five-day training, questions should be raised as to whether the employer is meeting clause 102.2(a), which requires employers to encourage HSRs to attend WorkSafe Victoria approved training as soon as practicable, and further whether HSRs have been able to choose their course of training (clause 102.2(c)).
