The employee participation system

Employees who do work will have valuable knowledge and experience to contribute to the management of health and safety in their workplace.

The Act requires all employers to allow employees a reasonable opportunity to participate in the improvement of health and safety at work.

In some cases, the employer, employees and any unions representing them must work together to develop a formal employee participation system. These are workplaces where:

• the employer employs 30 or more employees (whether at one single workplace or in a number of places); or
• the employer employs fewer than 30 employees, and one of those employees, or a union representing them, makes a request for an employee participation system.

Employers, employees, and unions must work together in good faith to try and agree a system, using whatever internal and external advice and assistance is needed to agree. This might for example include getting outside help such as from a mediator to work through the issues. If they are unable to agree within 6 months of when they are required to, then the Act sets out a default employee participation system.

Go to

• Matters to include in a participation system
• Functions of health and safety representatives
• Electing health and safety representatives
• Training for health and safety representatives
• Default employee participation system?
• Fact sheet: What is employee participation pdf file [size: 30k]
• Fact sheet: Employee participation systems pdf file [size: 31k]
• Fact sheet: Health and safety representatives pdf file [size: 31k]