Health and Safety Representative (HSR) training and other entitlements
As an HSR you have specific entitlements to allow you to fulfill your role.
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) your employer is referred to as a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). They have specific obligations to meet your entitlements.
HSR training entitlements
You are entitled to attend an approved 5-day training course in work health and safety, and a one-day refresher course each year.
When you request training from the PCBU, they must allow you to attend as soon as practicable and within 3 months of your request.
You can choose a training course from the list of approved training providers.
Do HSRs need to complete training?
Attending training is not mandatory. However, you cannot issue a Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN) or direct unsafe work to cease unless you have:
- completed the 5-day training course
- previously completed that training when acting as an HSR for another work group, or
- completed training equivalent to that training under a corresponding WHS law.
Pay entitlements during training
You’re entitled to receive your normal pay during training. The PCBU must cover the cost of course fees and any other reasonable costs associated with attendance, such as travel and other incidental expenses.
Other HSR entitlements
In addition to training, you are entitled to:
- spend work time, as is reasonably necessary and at your normal pay, fulfilling your role as an HSR
- access to any necessary facilities, as is reasonably necessary, to fulfil your role as an HSR
- have access to your PCBU to discuss health and safety issues
- have access to information about hazards and risks affecting your workgroup
- bring a person assisting you into the workplace.
Immunity from personal liability
Under section 66 of the WHS Act, an HSR is not personally liable for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith while exercising a power or performing a function under the Act.
Protections against discrimination
The WHS Act prohibits discriminatory, coercive, or misleading conduct against a person because they perform a WHS role or exercise WHS powers. This includes conduct directed at HSRs for carrying out their representative functions.
Under the Act, a person may be considered to have engaged in discriminatory conduct if they take, or propose to take, any of the following actions in relation to a worker, a prospective worker, or another person:
- dismissing a worker
- terminating a contract for services with a worker
- putting a worker at a detriment in their engagement
- altering a worker’s position to their detriment
- refusing or failing to offer employment to a prospective worker
- treating a prospective worker less favourably than another prospective worker when offering terms of engagement
- terminating a commercial arrangement with another person
- refusing or failing to enter into a commercial arrangement with another person.
A person also engages in discriminatory conduct if they organise or threaten to organise, any of the above actions.
Contact us
If you consider your PCBU is failing to meet the above obligations, you can contact us on 13 10 50 for advice, support, or to request an inspector to investigate.