HS634
Level 3 HS Consultation Committee Constitution

CONSTITUTION
FACULTY of SCIENCE

SCHOOL of PHYSICS

1. The purpose of the Committee

This Committee is a Level 3 Health & Safety (HS) Consultation Committee as described in the UNSW HS Consultation Procedure.

The purpose of the Committee is to:

To facilitate co-operation between the person conducting the business or undertaking (PCBU) and workers to instigating, developing and carrying out measures to ensure the workers’ health and safety at work

To assist in developing standards, rules and procedures relating to health and safety that are to be followed or complied with at the workplace

Any other functions prescribed by the regulations or agreed between the PCBU and the members of committee

(Section 77 of Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2011)

2. Scope of the Committee

The physical areas covered by the Committee include:

School of Physics Old Main Building and part of Newton Building

The Committee will address WHS issues pertaining to:

the work environment and business activities on campus;

workers who are working from home; and

workers and students who work and study off-campus, eg on field excursions.

3. Composition of the Committee

the composition of the Committee meets the requirements specified in the section 76 of WHS Act

the total number of Committee members is Seven ( 7 ) and the membership ratio is:

Elected worker representatives – Six ( 6 )

(NOTE: At least half of the members of the Committee must be workers who have NOT been nominated by Management/PCBU)

Management/PCBU nominated representatives – Two ( 2 )

the Committee must have management representatives who have the authority to make decisions about health and safety matters

a current list of the workgroups represented by the Committee, and the representatives of each workgroup is provided in Attachment 1

the current list of members will be maintained by the Secretary/Chairperson and communicated to staff via a combination of methods including: {email, School website,WHS noticeboard}

4. Election of Worker Representatives and Chairperson

elections are conducted in a manner consistent with recognised democratic principles {outline the agreed election process, eg. Email/verbal request to staff for nominees within ‘x’ weeks, then ask staff to vote on nominees by ‘y’ weeks.}

the Chairperson is elected from representatives on the HS Consultation Committee (Note: The Chairperson does not need to be an ‘elected Worker Representative”, but it is preferable.)

new elections for worker representatives and for the Chairperson are called as soon as practicable after a position becomes vacant, and are held at least every 2 years;

evidence of elections being conducted is documented in {eg. email request for nominations, documented in committee meeting minutes}

5. PCBU/Management Representative(s)

the Head of School (HOS)  is Professor Richard Newbury and Safety Officer Tamara Reztsova are the PCBU representatives on the Committee;

if the HOS is unable to attend a meeting they will appoint a delegate with authority to act on their behalf in WHS matters;

6. Committee Meetings

The committee must meet at least once every 4 months;

Special meetings can be called if at least half of the Committee members make a request;

the meeting quorum is 4 worker representatives and at least one management/PCBU representative

a meeting agenda is prepared by the Secretary/Chairperson with input from all Committee members and approved by the Chairperson for dissemination 14  days prior to the meeting date;

minutes may recorded by a nominated Secretary or by an appointed volunteer at the beginning of each meeting. The minutes are to be approved by the Chairperson and sent out within  2 weeks of the meeting being held

minutes are communicated to general staff via a combination of methods, including email, staff intranet, displays on staff noticeboards, or through Managers at staff meetings

7. Decision Making Procedure

Where possible, decisions will be made by consensus;

When this is not possible, a vote will be taken amongst the members of the Committee

8. Process for Review of this Constitution

The Constitution will be reviewed by the Committee at least every two years;

A Committee member may make a request to the Chairperson that the Constitution be reviewed;

Where possible, decisions will be made by consensus;

When this is not possible, a vote will be taken amongst the members of the Committee, with 75% of the vote required to approve changes.

9. Functions of the Committee

Facilitate effective consultation and communication on HS matters with management, staff and students in the School . Activities include:

Talking with people in the workplace about their health and safety concerns,

Raising WHS issues with management and the Committee,

Following up on outstanding items and giving feedback,

Preparing for and participating in Committee meetings and allocated tasks;

Keep under review the measures taken to ensure the health, safety and welfare of persons at the place of work. Activities include:

Conducting scheduled workplace inspections,

Making recommendations on elimination or control of risks,

Assisting in the development or review of WHS processes, documentation and initiatives (both local and UNSW),

Making recommendations on HS training requirements;

Investigate and attempt to resolve HS problems using the resolution process described in the UNSW WHS Consultation Procedure;

Collaborate with supervisors on the investigation of work related incidents and ill health issues, recommend corrective and preventive action, and track completion of actions; and

Where appropriate, be an observer during any formal WHS-related investigation or inspection conducted by UNSW or WorkCover;

Assist management with other agreed WHS initiatives, provided that adequate resources are made available to do so.

The role of the Committee Chairperson and individual Committee members is provided in Attachment 2.

10. Evaluation of Compliance and Committee Effectiveness

The Committee will evaluate itself at least annually using the UNSW Level 3 HS Consultation Committee Compliance Checklist

A summary of the self-evaluation and recommendations for improvement will be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting for communication to constituents.

Attachment 1: Committee workgroups and representatives of those workgroups

Effective Date: June 01 2012

Chairperson: Jon Everett

Secretary: Patricia Furst

This Committee is made up of the following workgroups and representatives:

Workgroup	Management Representative	Employee Representative
Richard Newbury	Head of School
Jon Everett	Chairman	Elected Chairperson
Tamara Reztsova	Safety Officer	General Staff Representative
Otte Homan		CQC2T Representative
Peter Reece		Academic Representative
Shane Hengst		Outreach Representative
Vicki Lowe		Postgrad Student Representative
TBD		Undergrad Student Representative

Attachment 2: Role of Committee Members and Chairperson

Role of  Health & Safety Committee Member:

represent the workers in their work group in relation to HS matters and raise any issues, that cannot be resolved locally, at the committee
be the point of contact to enable the 2 directional flow of HS information to and from the committee and constituents

     monitor the measures taken to address risks in relation to their work group members

assist investigate issues or complaints from their work group members about work health and safety

      assist with the inspection of the workplace for their work group

Role of a Health & Safety chairperson (minute taker may assist with some of these as appropriate)

      Set the meeting schedule.

Accept agenda items from committee representatives.

Draft the agenda based on items received and following review of minutes from previous meeting.

Ensure agenda items are allocated a sufficient time frame and all items are covered in the meeting.

Lead the meeting.

Ensures all committee members have the opportunity to participate in meetings.

Seek decisions from the employer representative.

End discussion on agenda items if satisfied that they have been adequately addressed or if discussions have gone off track.

Communicate items that cannot be resolved to the level 2 committee if necessary.

Ensure that action items are allocated to the most appropriate person.

Review minutes taken by minute taker.

Draw up the HS inspection roster and assign roles at the committee meeting.

Participate in the workplace inspections.

       Participate in incident investigations if requested.