Part 1 of a 3 part series on Health and Safety Representatives

By David Clarke (NSWTF member, Fed Rep & HSR)

The Health and Safety Representative should not be treated as a spectator position, nor as a lackey for management. Within the parameters of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011, the HSR can be used as a strategic tool for building union power grounded in workers’ dignity, safety, and collective advancement.[1] This piece, the first of a series of three, places the HSR at the centre of workplace relations, not as a bureaucratic add-on but as a genuine site of struggle over who gets to decide what happens at work. I argue that the role should be used to shift power from management’s decree to workers’ collective decision making.

What is a HSR? And why does it matter for union power?

A HSR is elected by workers to represent their health and safety interests. After five days of training, a HSR gains powers to monitor employer compliance, investigate WHS concerns, inspect workplaces, accompany inspectors, attend interviews, and request information related to safety.[2] Crucially, the HSR should use consultation as defined by the Act, because it is a strong tool for ensuring that workers’ voices help determine how safety measures are implemented and improved.[3] A motion in support of consultation should be discussed, debated and voted upon at a cross-union meeting at school or TAFE. This brings the power of the collective together with the legal powers that HSRs already hold. In a unionised school or TAFE, consultation is a lever to reconfigure power relations: it is the mechanism by which workers can shape outcomes in ways that protect their conditions and their dignity.

My approach to the HSR role is to reframe work, health and safety as a pressure point for democratic workplace governance. The core move is genuine consultation that meaningfully weighs all options and enables staff to choose the path that best fits their circumstances. Consultation is not workers picking the best of the bad options presented to them at a staff meeting. Consultation is when workers get a collective, meaningful say over their worksite, ensuring that physical and psychosocial hazards are minimised. This upends the dynamic from “management tells us what will happen” to “we decide together how to protect ourselves.” This shift is not cosmetic. It reorganises power relations at the site of work, and that is precisely why it matters.

A school case: turning one HSR into a resource for all staff

My school had a deputy principal who was sceptical of safety culture and held a narrow compliance mindset: box-ticking dressed up as diligence. I proposed that one elected and trained HSR could become a resource for staff rather than a grievance service. We ran an election with two candidates; the winner became HSR and the runner-up served as deputy. The objective was to embed safety leadership within the staff collective, not to rely on a single individual, because a movement built around one person is a movement one transfer away from collapse.

Two practical habits made the difference:

1. Regular, transparent consultation: I met with the principal as both Fed Rep and HSR and insisted that consultation means exploring all options and making decisions with staff input, not simply rubber-stamping the Department’s decrees.
2. Continuous local action with escalation when needed: we pursued local safety solutions first; where these were unavailable, we escalated to the Department, reinforced by a cross-union meeting and a motion of confidence. The HSR became a conduit for both local problem-solving and strategic advocacy, not a single point of failure.

Transparency builds trust and solidarity

I maintained an open line of accountability: walk-throughs of the school with a dedicated HSR notebook, regular check-ins with staff about safety concerns, workloads, and facilities. After gathering concerns, I documented them, discussed remedies with the principal, and reported back to staff on decisions and timelines. This practice demonstrates that the HSR is accountable to workers, not to the hierarchy above them. It also strengthens union presence by turning safety wins into visible, shared gains rather than invisible concessions won behind closed doors.

The HSR role extends into relationships with all non-teaching workers. At my school, the HSR currently represents all workers on site, though we are looking into electing further HSRs. Understanding the working environments of all staff, from noise and facilities through to communication with parents, helps foster a broader union culture. Crucially, it encourages non-members to see the union as a vehicle for protecting everyday conditions, not as a distant political project disconnected from their working lives.

The path ahead: normalising the HSR as a central role in workplace organisation

The aim is to normalise the HSR as a central role in workplace governance: regular inspections, proactive safety planning, and ongoing union recruitment among all staff. Managerial ideology of risk aversion and the tired old question of “which comes first, safety or productivity” remain real barriers. But they can be worn down through consistent, transparent action and a clear link between safety and collective power, reinforced by cross-union meetings that back the HSR’s planned actions with real numbers (you might notice there is a theme here).

When workers see that safety is inseparable from their rights, and that the union is the vehicle to defend those rights, we gain the capacity to shape our workplaces and, by extension, the wider conditions of our working lives. The HSR project is not a solo grind. It is a collective effort to fuse safety with union power across our schools and TAFEs.

Collective union power standing shoulder to shoulder with the HSR becomes another layer of strength for broader workplace organisation. The point is to show that safety work is not add-on labour, but integral to democracy at work, and that this collective power is the frontline for turning safety into concrete gains: safer classrooms, fairer workloads, and a stronger, more disciplined union presence.

Building links on the chain

The General Assistant at school and TAFE worksites often bears a martyr’s burden: carrying tasks beyond reasonable limits and blaming themselves when outcomes fall short. The solution is not to crush that energy but to re-channel it through organisational processes. This means ensuring the HSR has release time from class to properly consult with all staff, and that the HSR speaks regularly with the GA, who is often best placed to know every job being done, or about to be done, at the worksite. Safety work is workplace work, not extra-curricular martyrdom performed out of individual guilt.

When hazards or violence occur, it is important to assemble the relevant staff, walk through the incident, and draft formal incident notifications together. Explaining how data travels, where reports go, and how the collective drives the employer to follow up is critical in this process. Emotional and procedural support reinforces confidence in the process and shows colleagues that safety work is inseparable from collective protection. Crucially, these actions must be led by the workers themselves, so they develop their own capacity to act. This is a tradition within the union movement that is fading, quietly replaced by backdoor deals and members mobilised only when leadership deems it convenient.

Safety solidarity is relational: one-on-one conversations over coffee, regular debriefs, transparent information sharing. Building trust means showing staff that you are in their corner, prepared to move with the backing of fellow union members to resolve issues. This approach has opened doors and reduced resistance among hesitant colleagues, including those who had previously kept the union at arm’s length. A near miss or hazardous episode can illustrate, in very concrete terms, the practical value of fusing safety with union organisation. By translating scattered concerns into concrete, defendable action, we align everyday safety with collective power rather than leaving it to individual goodwill.

Recruitment and expansion across worksites

It is important for comrades to understand that safety and union-building are mutually reinforcing, not separate tasks competing for the same limited time. When staff witness a transparent process, timely reporting, and tangible outcomes, trust grows. As members see that WHS procedures actually protect them, and that the union is the vehicle defending those protections, recruitment and engagement follow. This is material power in motion: safer schools and TAFEs built on stronger collective leverage, not on the goodwill of management.

The HSR pathway, approached with disciplined process and genuine solidarity, becomes a practical conduit for the power we need. By treating safety as a structural issue demanding collective action, clear protocols, and solidarity rather than individual endurance, we advance both workplace safety and the political capacity of our union to shape our school and TAFE worksites, and, by extension, the material conditions of the workers within them.

Takeaway

The objective for readers of this article is to replicate this model across School and TAFE worksites: electing HSRs at other sites, ensuring training is completed, and coordinating across worksites to build a genuine network of WHS collaboration. The overarching aim is to normalise WHS work as integral to union power. A steady cadence of inspections, incident reporting, and proactive safety planning, anchored in robust staff relationships and a shared political project for workplace democracy, is how the smallest reforms become the groundwork for something larger.

Series note: this article sets out the practical, on-the-ground methods for using the HSR role to build union power and democratic governance in schools. The forthcoming second article in this series will examine the practical and political architecture for expanding the HSR network across worksites and strengthening Federation-wide capacity.

Endnotes

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[1] NSW Government, Work Health and Safety Act 2011 No 10, NSW, 68-70

[2] SafeWork NSW, “Role of Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs),” SafeWork NSW, https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/legal-obligations/employer-business-obligations/duty-to-consult/health-and-safety-representatives-hsrs

[3] NSW Government, Work Health and Safety Act 2011 No 10, NSW, 49-50

Bibliography

NSW Government. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 No 10. (NSW), Sydney: NSW Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.

NSW Teachers Federation. “Teachers’ Work, Teachers’ Health, Teachers’ Safety.” NSW Teachers Federation. https://www.nswtf.org.au/teachers-work-teachers-health-teachers-safety/

SafeWork NSW. “Role of Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs).” SafeWork NSW. https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/legal-obligations/employer-business-obligations/duty-to-consult/health-and-safety-representatives-hsrs