Safety Committees Procedure

The purpose of the GMW Health and Safety committee is to maintain oversight of key OHS activities which are likely to impact both the worker and the workplace within the group by reviewing, endorsing and providing recommendations to management on how to minimise the impact to both workers and operations. The committee will also provide oversight in ensuring the organisation meets its obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), specifically in relation to its due diligence when ensuring that it fulfils its Health and Safety obligations.

The committee shall have authority to resolve OHS issues which cannot be resolved within the work groups by the HSR’s and leaders.

The committee’s oversight shall not include activities which are deemed “Operationally Sensitive” by either the Executive Leadership or Senior leadership teams within the broader GMW group. 

The Health and Safety committee is responsible for oversight of WHS activities which may include (but not limited to):

• Endorsing site specific OHS actions
• Assist in the development and implementation of the Safety strategy
• Work proactively with the business to achieve safety KPI’s, goals and objectives
• Review and provide recommendations managing Internal / External audit    findings
• Review and provide recommendations for closing OHS issues which have been escalated to the committee
• Support / endorse the formation of work / learning groups to review / resolve OHS issues and opportunities for improvement
• Assume responsibility for safety programs and initiatives where ongoing leadership or oversight is required
• Provide oversight of the HSR election process for their area of representation
• Support HSR / First Aiders / Emergency Wardens in implementing OHS initiatives approved by their leaders and work groups.

• Assist GMW in complying with its obligations under Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
• Progress the health and safety of GMW’s workers
• Actively participate and promote approved GMW health and safety initiatives
• Resolve health and safety issues which have been escalated to them.

The Health and Safety committee meeting agenda and meeting frequency will be determined by the committee but must be as a minimum 4 meetings per year. The agenda should consist of:

1. Review of current safety performance for the month/s
2. Resolve or escalate Safety issues as per the escalation process
3. Conduct a deep dive into a particular OHS issue and provide potential long / short term recommendations / actions
4. Review key elements of the safety management system to ensure divisions are compliant.

Each Executive Leadership Team Sponsor (ELT), Chair and Deputy Chair can determine the size of the committee but must have as a minimum positions stated below with their specific roles detailed in Appendix A.

• The Health and Safety committee must consist of 50% of workers and 50% management excluding safety team members and chairperson
• Where 50% workers attendance is not achieved, the meeting Must not proceed, (a meeting May proceed if there is less than 50% of management representatives at the meeting)
• Any committee member who is a manager and elected as a HSR, their attendance at a Health and Safety committee meeting will be as a management representative
• Only committee members may hold voting rights
• Where a voting deadlock occurs, the committee shall convene a second meeting to attempt to resolve the deadlock.  Where a second deadlock occurs the chair of the committee may vote to resolve voting deadlocks, unless the issue relates to  Fatal Risks in which case it will be referred to the SWE Manager for assistance 
• A quorum for the meeting shall be set at 2 Worker representatives, 2 Management Reps plus either the Chair or Deputy Chair.

Unresolved work group issues should only be referred to the Health and Safety committee as per the below escalation process:

Only issues which have followed the escalation process above can be presented to the committee for resolution. 

Any issue referred to the Health and Safety committee must first be placed on the agenda and accompanied with a brief summary, presentation or similar detailing the issue, the actions taken so far, why it remains unresolved and what action is required of the safety committee. This should be compiled by both the HSR, Supervisor and Senior Leader.

Emergency or urgent issues may be presented to the committee outside of the agenda with agreement by the committee by way of vote.

Issues which have been identified and require a whole of business approach are to be presented to the SWE Manager for consideration.

The Chair of the committee should be elected by the committee from its membership and endorsed by the ELT Sponsor of the committee and outgoing chair.  The Chair will sit for a term as agreed by the ELT Sponsor and appointee but should not be less than 12 months and should be selected from either the Management Representative or Health & Safety Representatives (for the purposes of collaboration, the chair can be selected from outside of the represented division).

The Deputy chair (DC) shall be elected from the committee membership and endorsed by the ELT Sponsor.  The Deputy chair should be drawn from the opposite pool to the chair. The Deputy Chair shall sit for the same term as the Committee Chair and will rotate into the Chairs position at the end of the term.

The chair must rotate between HSR and Management Representative for the agreed term.

Where the Deputy Chair requests not to rotate to the position of chair, the committee will elect the chair and new deputy chair.

The minute taker is to ensure minutes of previous minutes are available to all committee members in advance of the scheduled meetings.

The minute taker and DC can be the same appointed person. Where this is the case and a HSR is appointed to the role, sufficient work time is to be provided for them to complete their tasks and a committee member must be made available to assist.

The Deputy Chair and the Minute Taker are to ensure copies of the safety minutes are placed on safety notices boards across the business.

The Senior Leaders are to assist the DC where required to complete this task.

After the chair of the committee has completed their tenure they will remain on the committee for a duration of two months to provide support to the incoming chair.

Notification of the appointment of the committee’s will be placed on notice boards, GMW’s intranet and in lunch rooms by the Chair / Deputy Chair of the new committee.

Any member who intends to resign from the committee should ideally provide at least one months’ notice, either verbally or in writing to the Chair of the Committee. The committee must conduct a selection process within two months of receiving notice of either the vacancy or resignation.

Upon the resignation of the committee chair the committee should elect a new chair ideally within its membership within one month of the resignation.

Committee members should be drawn from either the HSR pool or general workforce and shall be nominated by their work groups and appointed by the ELT Sponsor, Chair and Deputy Chair (Where there are insufficient HSR’s available to fill committee positions, the general workforce pool can be elected into committee positions).

Managerial Committee members should be nominated by their peers and appointed by the ELT Sponsor.

Each committee member should sit for a period of 24 months after which, a new nomination and appointment process should be conducted.

The HSE Business Partner (BP) will provide support to the committee by assisting in the presentation of safety related topics for analysis and discussion as well as a short safety insights presentations as requested by the Chair.

The HSE Manager or HSE BP will provide support and coaching to both the Chair and Deputy Chair to assist in the smooth functioning of the committee.

The agenda will be managed by the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson. The agenda will be made available to all committee members at least five days prior to the intended meeting.

Escalated issues will be presented to the Deputy Chair of the committee for inclusion in the agenda at least two days before the agenda is distributed unless urgency for resolution warrants less notice by agreement of the Committee Chair and ELT sponsor.

The committee recognises that consultation within the business is essential. By drawing on the knowledge and the experience of others, more informed and effective decisions can be made; therefore, in the spirit of transparency any GMW employee may attend a committee meeting as an observer but shall not raise issues or hold voting rights.

Observers may be included in the committee discussions on invite by the Chair / Deputy Chair.

Three Key Performance indicators (KPI’s) set for each safety committee and comprise of the following:

• Divisional Safety Committees

            Primary           - Meeting held against the schedule              

            Secondary       - Overdue actions                                                      

            Third                - Committee member attendance

• Office Safety Committee

            Primary           - Meeting held from all committees as per the schedule

            Secondary      - Overdue actions from all safety committee/ groups

            Third                - All Committee / group member attendance

The Executive Sponsor / Committee Chair shall provide a short summary of the committee’s progress and outstanding action plans to the quarterly Executive / Committee Chair forum for discussion.

Minutes of the safety committee meeting will be emailed to appropriate contact groups within GMW (e.g. OHS Contacts and HSR Contacts), and placed onto notice boards and lunch rooms within seven working days of the meeting. HSR’s and their supervisors will present the outcome of escalated issues back to the work group under local arrangements.

All records of meetings will be stored as per GMW’s record / document management protocols.

The following table is the Annual Executive and Committee Chairs Forum schedule (Guide Only).

The forum will not have a set agenda but should consist of:

1. Review the committee KPI’s
2. Review of current activities of each committee (actions list)
3. Resolve or escalate Safety issues as per the escalation process
4. Review the structure / format and effectiveness of the committees.

The MD / GM PCS through consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair may determine the size of the committee but must have as a minimum positions stated below.

• The Safety Forum must consist of 50% of Executive Leaders and 50% of Chairs / Deputy Chairs before it can proceed
• Where 50% of Chairs / Deputy Chair attendance is not achieved, the meeting must not proceed, (a meeting may proceed if there is less than 50% of Executive Management representatives at the meeting)
• Either a SWE BP or GM PCS ideally should be in attendance at all forums
• Only forum members may attend the meeting unless invited by the Chair / Deputy Chair

The safety committee structure is a key element of how GMW addresses worker concerns or issues relating to safety and should be allocated sufficient time, resources and authority to discharge its duties as implied by the Worksafe Victoria.

The GMW safety committees should focus on those areas specific to their membership.  

The committee should not be involved in the day to day management or functioning of these areas but should ensure they regularly review any safety occurrences related to them and where required provide recommendations to the business in how to improve safety performance.  

The committee’s general activities should include, but not be limited to:

• Facilitating cooperation between the employees and the employer
• Allowing members to instigate, develop, and implement health and safety control measures
• Championing Health, Safety & Wellbeing at all times
• Formulating, reviewing, and disseminating safety standards and procedures
• Following any additional functions agreed upon by the committee and the employer.

Further responsibilities include:

• Provide a forum for committee members to discuss WHS issues
• Develop plans or procedures to resolve the identified issues
• Recommend corrective actions to reduce hazards
• Address any additional health and safety issues
• Evaluate reports submitted by the HSRs.

Role Accountabilities 

Executive Leadership Team (ELT) Sponsor

• Coach and support the Committee Chair / Deputy Chair in their roles
• Allocate sufficient resources to resolve any escalated issues
• Ensure the committee meets the requirements of this procedure
• Ensure the committee is being conducted with respect, fairness and transparency
• Provide a short debrief of the meeting outcomes / progress to the ELT as required
• Actively promote and encourage the safety accountability for all GMW employees.

Committee Chair (CC)

• Manage the day to day running of the Safety Committee in line with the current procedure
• Prioritize and manage the Agenda
• Keep time and sum up where appropriate
• Ensure actions are recorded and placed onto the actions list
• Hold members to account against the actions list
• Facilitate any voting requirements and adjudicate the results
• Ensure oversight of any safety programs set by the committee
• Review progress against the Divisional safety plans
• Cast the deciding vote where voting deadlocks have been identified among the committee
• Actively promote and encourage the safety accountability and hold committee members to account.

Deputy Committee Chair (DC)

• Ensure the agenda is manageable and able to be worked through in the allocated time
• Ensure all members arrive on time
• Ensure the agenda is circulated in advance of the meeting
• Ensure minutes of meetings are placed on notice boards on all GMW sites (including intranet) within the allocated timeframe
• Actively promote and encourage the safety accountability and support the chair.

Minute Taker (MT)

• Maintain accurate records of the meeting
• Assist the DC in distributing the minutes of the meetings
• Report the progress against the key metrics (KPI) to the EL after each meeting.

Committee Members (CM)

• Attend Safety Committee meetings (as required)
• Assist with new safety initiatives as directed by the committee
• Ensure only those items which have gone through the escalation process are presented to the committee for consideration
• Promote the safety committee throughout the organization
• Assist the conduct of presentations relating to workplace initiatives when required
• Actively promote and encourage the safety accountability.

Safety Business Partner Support (HSE BP)

• Provide advice / insights into the meeting as requested by the EL/CC
• Provide coaching support to the CC / DC as required
• Support the facilitation of workshops / working groups to resolve complex safety issues as requested by the EL/CC/ Committee
• Ensure the committee reference and complies with GMW’s safety management system when resolving issues
• Identify opportunities to simplify and review the safety management system processes and protocols
• Actively promote and encourage the safety accountability.

Visitor / Attendees (V/A)

• Support / respect the decision of the committee
• Actively participate in group discussions when invited by the Chair / DC
• Actively and positively promote the safety committee throughout the organization
• Be respectful and attentive while observing the safety committee.