• Make a Safe Workplace Overview
• Manage health and Safety
  • Safety of Contractors and Visitors
  • Visitors to Farms
  • Children in the Workplace
  • First Aid Kits
• Make a H&S plan
  • Implementing Your Plan
  • Employee Participation
• Manage Hazards
  • Monitor Employee Health
  • More on health monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Getting staff to wear safety gear
  • Fatigue, Drugs and Alcohol
  • Sample Drug and Alcohol Policy
  • Workplace Fatigue
• Manage Staff Safely
  • Employee Responsibilities
  • Employee Capability Levels
  • Seven Steps for Training
  • Sample Health and Safety Policy
• Investigate Incidents

Employee Participation

Your employees and other people who face the hazards of a job often have valuable knowledge and the motivation to improve health and safety. The Health and Safety in Employment Act recognises this by requiring you to consult with your employees on health and safety issues and to encourage them to participate in managing their workplace health and safety.

Allowing your employees to participate through health and safety representatives, committees or discussion groups gives them the opportunity to:

• think constructively about health and safety issues that affect them
• contribute ideas for improvement
• help solve health and safety problems
• work as a team in implementing good work practices.

What you must do

• Give employees a reasonable opportunity to participate effectively in health and safety procedures and improvements.
• If you have more than 30 employees you must develop a participation scheme.
• If you have fewer than 30 employees you must develop a participation scheme if an employee or their union requests it. However, it’s good practice to have an employee participation scheme regardless of business size.
• If your health and safety representative or committee makes a recommendation, you must either adopt it or provide a written statement setting out your reasons for not adopting it.
• Allow your elected health and safety representative to attend an approved health and safety training course, plus up to two days’ paid leave to attend.

What you could do

• Make health and safety part of your workplace culture. Written systems, safety manuals and checklists all play a part, but the most gain comes from good daily practices, regular reviews and discussions with your team.
• Take the lead to encourage employees to elect representatives or discuss other ways of involving employees in health and safety.
• Ensure that health and safety is recognised as an important part of a person’s role. If the employee regards health and safety as an add-on, it will often be neglected.
• Give recognition to people who have contributed to a safer workplace and celebrate any safe working goals that everyone achieves. Consider monthly or quarterly prizes for health and safety ideas.