Involving employees in health and safety matters
Good health and safety management goes hand in hand with good employment relationships. A healthy and safe workplace results from good faith communication and co-operation between employers and employees about health and safety matters.
Good faith requires being open, honest, and understanding that all involved have a legitimate interest in a safe and healthy workplace.
Employees who carry out work are well placed to advise employers about actual or potential hazards that arise in the course of that work and suggest how their employer could manage those hazards. By working together and communicating about these issues, employers and employees will get the best health and safety outcomes in their workplace.
To assist in the achievement of excellence in health and safety management:
- all employers are required under the Act to provide reasonable opportunities for the employees to participate effectively in processes for improving health and safety at work; and
- some employers, (depending on size of workplace or on whether there is direct employee interest) in co-operation with employees and any unions representing them, are required to develop a system for employee participation.
The requirement to involve employees is flexible so that each workplace can tailor a process for communication and co-operation between employers and employees on health and safety matters.
