Western Australian Current Acts

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2020 - SECT 72

72 .         Obligation to train health and safety representatives

        (1)         The person conducting a business or undertaking must, if requested by a health and safety representative for a work group for that business or undertaking, allow the health and safety representative to attend a course of training in work health and safety that is —

            (a)         approved by the Work Health and Safety Commission; and

            (b)         a course that the health and safety representative is required under the regulations to attend; and

            (c)         chosen by the health and safety representative.

        (2)         The person conducting the business or undertaking must —

            (a)         as soon as practicable within the period of 3 months after the day on which the request is made, allow the health and safety representative time off work to attend the course of training; and

            (b)         pay the course fees and any other reasonable costs associated with the health and safety representative’s attendance at the course of training.

        (3)         If —

            (a)         a health and safety representative represents a work group of the workers of more than 1 business or undertaking; and

            (b)         the person conducting any of those businesses or undertakings has complied with this section in relation to the representative,

                each of the persons conducting those businesses or undertakings is to be taken to have complied with this section in relation to the representative.

        (4)         Any time that a health and safety representative is given off work to attend the course of training must be with the pay that the representative would otherwise be entitled to receive for performing the representative’s normal duties during that period.

        (5)         If agreement cannot be reached between the person conducting the business or undertaking and the health and safety representative within the time required by subsection (2) as to the matters set out in that subsection, either party may ask the regulator to appoint an inspector to decide the matter.

        (6)         The inspector may decide the matter in accordance with this section.

        (7)         The person conducting the business or undertaking must then —

            (a)         allow the health and safety representative to attend the course of training at the time decided by the inspector; and

            (b)         pay the costs decided by the inspector.

        Penalty for this subsection:

            (a)         for an individual, a fine of $12 500;

            (b)         for a body corporate, a fine of $55 000.