Election of Safety and Health Representatives
Frequently asked questions related to the election of safety and health representatives.
Page Index
Who can be nominated for the election?
What if there is only one nominee?
Can the person conducting the election be a nominee?
Why is it important to notify the State Mining Engineer?
When does the term of office start?
What if a job changes, the workplace moves or the safety and health representative leaves the job?
Who can be nominated for the election?
Only employees who work in a workplace or group for which the election is being conducted can be elected to represent that workplace or group. This is to ensure elected safety and health representatives will be familiar with the safety and health issues for the workplace or group.
Where a person is to be elected to represent underground miners, they must have worked for at least 12 months in underground mining operations.
What if there is only one nominee?
If there is only one eligible nomination or the number of eligible nominations matches the number of positions, then there is no requirement for an election to be held. In this situation, the candidate is considered to be elected unopposed.
However, the notification process must still be followed and a completed election notification form sent to Resources Safety.
Who can conduct an election?
The legislation does not mention that a specific or particular individual needs to conduct the election, but suggests that an election could be run by the electoral commissioner, an employer organisation or a union.
However, other options are an employee from a different group in the workplace, or someone from outside the workplace.
The only requirement is that the employee and employer delegate(s) must agree on who will conduct the election.
Can the person conducting the election be a nominee?
In order to maintain the integrity and transparency of the election process, it is recommended that people wishing to nominate as a safety and health representative do not conduct the election.
A person should not be chosen to conduct the election without prior agreement as he or she may wish to nominate.
Why is it important to notify the State Mining Engineer?
The person conducting the election must notify the result in writing to the employer, the State Mining Engineer and the person elected within seven days, specifying the day on which the election was held.
See form below.
What form do I need to use?
The form below must be used to notify the State Mining Engineer. In-house or superseded forms will not be accepted. Incomplete or illegible forms will be returned for completion or clarification.
Safety and health representative(s) notification of election form (PDF 238 kb)
See also: Guide to electronic submission of safety and health representative election notification form
When does the term of office start?
A person who is elected as a safety and health representative holds office for a term of two years commencing on the tenth day after the election was held.
What if a job changes, the workplace moves or the safety and health representative leaves the job?
Safety and health representatives are elected for a term of two years to represent employees in an area, workplace or group determined during consultation before the election.
A safety and health representative also ceases to hold their position if he or she:
- Leaves their job
- Resigns from the position
- Transfers from the area they were elected to represent
- Is disqualified by the Occupational Safety and Health Tribunal.
In those circumstances, either the employer or the safety and health representative should notify Resources Safety so that the database can be updated.
The advice should be sent to mineshreps@dmp.wa.gov.au or by facsimile to +61 8 9358 8188.
