Consultation is a legal requirement and an essential part of managing health and safety risks.

Managing Risks:

Consultation is required when identifying hazards, assessing risks and deciding on measures to eliminate or minimise those risks.

In deciding how to eliminate or minimise risks, you must consult with your workers who will be affected by this decision, either directly or through their health and safety representative.

Their experience may help you identify hazards and choose practical and effective control measures. 

When to consult:

Consultation must take place on health and safety matters, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for you and who are (or are likely to be) directly affected. This includes consulting with your contractors and their workers and volunteers (if any) about health and safety decisions that directly affect them and which you influence or control

As noted in section 49 of the WHS Act, the PCBU must consult with workers when:

• Identifying hazards and assessing risks arising from the work carried out or to be carried out
• Making decisions about ways to eliminate or minimise those risks
• Making decisions about the adequacy of facilities for the welfare of workers
• Proposing changes that may affect the health or safety of your workers, and
• Making decisions about procedures for consulting with workers; resolving health or safety issues; monitoring health of your workers; monitoring the conditions at the workplace and providing information and training for your workers.

However, it may be useful to also consult workers about matters that are not listed above, for example when conducting investigations into incidents or ‘near-misses’.

Regular consultation is better than consulting on a case-by-case basis only as issues arise because it allows you to identify and fix potential problems early.

How to consult:

Consultation needs to allow for the worker or their representative to have input into decisions. It can be in writing, orally either individually or in a group setting. Consultation can occur in an informal manner or by establishing a WHS consultative forum.