Consult - Good Practice Tips

• Recognise the role
  When a health and safety representative has been appointed or elected, being a representative becomes part of their job...
• Different work patterns
  Think about the different work patterns of the modern workplace...
• Preferences
  Ask your employees or their representatives about their needs and preferences...
• Involve the representative
  An investigation involving the health and safety representative can give employees more confidence to co-operate...
• Plan a programme of inspections
  You and your representatives can plan a programme of inspections in advance...
• Agree the number of representatives
  Agree the number of representatives taking part in any one formal inspection...
• Co-ordinate inspections
  Plan inspections if there is more than one representative, because they can then co-ordinate their inspections to avoid unnecessary duplication.
• Inspect together
  It will help your relationship with the representatives if you inspect together...
• Consult specialists
  If there is a safety officer or specialist advisers...
• Break down tasks
  For larger workplaces, it may not be practical to conduct a formal inspection of the entire workplace in a single session...
• Involve a variety of people
  A health and safety committee made up of employee representatives ...
• Consult representatives
  Consult employee representatives to agree the membership and size of a safety committee;
• Represent all groups
  Keep the total size reasonably small, but ensure all significant employee groups are represented;
• Keep a balance
  Make sure employee representatives are not out-numbered by management representatives;
• Represent employees
  Consider agreeing to more employee representatives rather than equal numbers of employee and management representatives as this shows you are not dominating the committee.
• Keep a single location
  Ensure a committee's work is related to a single establishment not a collection of geographically different places; and
• Avoid duplication
  Avoid duplicating committees for the same workplace, for example to represent different levels of staff.
• Think about minor incidents
  When considering accident and injuries statistics, look at minor injuries and incidents as well as reportable ones...
• Plan meetings in advance
  Where possible, plan a series of committee meetings in advance...
• Communicate
  All committee members should have a personal copy of the planned meeting dates...
• Keep the date
  Do not postpone or cancel committee meetings unless there are exceptional circumstances...
• Address strategic issues
  To be effective, health and safety committees should address strategic issues...
• Agreements
  To help reach agreements on recommendations...
• Disagreements
  If committee members cannot agree on solutions...
• Resolve disagreements
  If there are disagreements that cannot be resolved, consider following the procedures for employment relations disputes or contact Acas for advice