The health and safety representative

The Health and safety representatives are expected to inspect the workplace regularly to identify hazards, make recommendations to the employer, consult employees and investigate incidents. The responsibilities they carry are enormous. When a health and safety representative is not properly trained he or she could become a liability.

It is human nature to assume that, once certain responsibilities are delegated to a particular employee, this employee will take responsibility for and carry out those responsibilities diligently; because that is what the employee was trained for. Should this employee fail, he or she not only fails to carry out the allotted task, but also causes confusion, discomfort amongst other employees and can even be a danger to the workplace.

Health and safety representatives are often nominated by or selected from the workforce. Their background or education often has limited or no relationship to health and safety in the workplace.

Health and safety representatives are the eyes and ears of the official health and safety inspector and they are there to assist. So it is double important when it comes to health and safety representatives to ensure this person is adequately trained. Ensuring health and safety in the workplace, these days, is something that goes beyond inspecting the content of the first aid box or replacing emergency signs. Employers and employees expect such a person to take responsibility for their lives and for people's safety, regardless of the level of their involvement. If done successfully all employees will be comfortable in carrying out their duties and operations will run smoothly. But if the health and safety representative fails, he or she could be held responsible for an incident which could lead to operations being shut down if inspectors from the Department of Labour deem the workplace or site to be unsafe.

For a health and safety representative to identify and understand the magnitude of the task requires that the representative is familiar with legislation, work processes and the industry. Most of the time the health and safety representative has a good understanding of work processes and the industry. But in the absence of any history or education in health and safety, they often lack knowledge and understanding of legislation.

Training of health and safety practitioners, be it representatives or officials, doesn't stop with sending them for training as a once off. Ensuring health and safety in the workplace requires that the official is trained and updated regularly. Legislation is constantly updated and new procedures, products and solutions are introduced almost daily.

Employers must make sure that they have a plan in place, before a health and safety representative is appointed. If no provision has been made for continuous improvement and training of the representative, this person is being set up for failure. Employers will stand to lose a loyal and dedicated employee if he or she has becomes disillusioned with the task. More importantly; employers will lose what they have in the event of an incident, which a health and safety representative could have prevented from happening.