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MEANINGFUL CONSULTATION

What is meaningful and effective consultation?
Valuing employee input
Effective consultation
Effective -vs- ineffective consultation
Open consultation
Summary

What is meaningful consultation?

Meaningful and effective consultation involves drawing on the knowledge, experience and ideas of employees and encouraging their participation and input to improve the OHS systems the employer has in place.

Meaningful consultation involves sharing of relevant OHS information about:

Work processes and procedures.
OHS Consultation arrangements.
OHS Policies and procedures.
Changes to plant, equipment, and methods of work or substances used for work.
Incidents, illnesses or injuries.

For consultation on OHS issues to be meaningful, the people actually doing the work must have an opportunity to express their views in a timely fashion, that is, before decisions are made. Time should be made available for employees to consider the issues; this is usually one of the roles of the workgroup OHS Committee, however an OHS Representative may also need time to communicate with employees in his/her workgroup.

Valuing employee input

The spirit of the OHS consultation process seeks to ensure that the University values employees' views and input and takes them into account when considering the issues. The final responsibility for any decision taken rests with the University but it must be able to demonstrate that it gave due consideration to its employees' views.

Effective consultation can result in:

Improved management decisions through gathering a wider range of ideas about OHS.
Greater employee commitment to OHS through better understanding of OHS decisions and employee ownership of the outcome of the consultation.
Greater openness, respect and trust between management and employees through developing an understanding of each other's points of view.
Higher employee morale and job satisfaction through the employer demonstrating that employee views are valued and taken into account.
Healthier working environments and increased productivity.
Opportunities for learning through sharing of information, concepts and ideas.
Reduced injury and disease with consequent savings to the employer, employees and the general community.

Effective -vs- ineffective consultation

Consultation can be done well and therefore assist in the making of better decisions about OHS or it can be done poorly. The following table summarises the key differences between effective consultation and ineffective consultation. It can be used as a guide to help assess whether the consultation arrangement adopted is working.

Table 1: Effective & ineffective consultation (source: WorkCover)

	Effective consultation	Ineffective consultation
When consultation occurs	Early, before agenda is set and decisions are made	After the agenda is set and decisions are made
Employer role	Interested in and values employees' ideas	No recognition of the benefits of consultation
Employer skills needed	Interpersonal, facilitative, listening	No skills needed
Employee role	Proactive, employees encouraged to suggest ideas	Reactive, employees have no role in improving OHS
Employee skills	Training provided in communication skills and risk assessment	No training provided to enable effective participation
Interaction style	Planned, genuine, and collaborative	Directionless, token, or sporadic
Approach toward each other	Trust, mutual respect	Mistrust, lack of respect for differing points of view
Process	Open and receptive to employee participation	Invisible, barriers to employee participation
Information	Relevant information provided	Limited access to information
Communication	Opportunities for one-to-one communication with employees, clear and on-going feedback	No direct communication with employees, no feedback
Outcomes	Outcomes result in improvements to how safety is managed	There is no improvement in the systems for managing safety

Open meaningful communication

Open communication between employees and their employer is important to safety success.

Ask questions
Raise safety concerns
Make safety recommendations
Be a part of the problem-solving process

Summary

Employees should help to shape decisions about OHS, not hear about the decisions after they have been made. Effective consultation will result in better decision-making about OHS. However, consultation does not remove the responsibility that rests with the employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees under section 8 of the OHS Act.