New South Wales Consolidated Regulations New South Wales Consolidated RegulationsThe procedures with respect to the establishment and composition of OHS committees must comply with the following requirements:
(a) the employee representatives on a committee must be elected by and from the employees in the relevant workgroup the committee represents,
(b) an election for those representatives must be conducted in a manner that is consistent with recognised democratic principles,
(c) an election may be conducted by a Federal or State industrial organisation of employees if a majority of the employees concerned request the organisation to conduct the election,
(d) the number of employer representatives on a committee must not exceed the number of elected employee representatives on the committee,
(e) the chairperson of a committee is not to be an employer representative,
(f) a person who is elected as an OHS representative for a workgroup may be an employee representative on a committee that relates to the workgroup without further election if it is provided for in the OHS consultation arrangements,
(g) a person who is elected as an employee representative on a committee may be an employee representative on another related committee without further election if it is provided for in the OHS consultation arrangements,
(h) an employee representative on a committee is to be elected for a maximum period of 2 years (but the term of office may be shortened in connection with a change in OHS consultation arrangements),
(i) a person elected as an employee representative on a committee is eligible for re-election,
(j) a person is not eligible to be an employer representative on a committee unless the person has authority to act on behalf of the employer in occupational health and safety matters at the place of work.
Note: Section 17 (6) of the Act requires that, in the case of a coal workplace, a site check inspector and the electrical check inspector for that coal workplace must be members of any OHS committee for that place of work. Section 17 (7) of the Act requires that, in the case of a mining workplace, a site check inspector for the mining workplace must be a member of any OHS committee for that place of work. The election of site check inspectors for mining workplaces or coal workplaces is determined by the Mine Health and Safety Act 2004 or the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 , respectively.