Are you wondering what does HSR do? HSRs or health and safety representatives are workers who get elected for representing the safety and health interests of any specific or particular working group. There are various health and safety representative responsibilities and roles that you should be aware of. They can be delineated below: 

• One of the key health and safety representative duties includes representation of workers in his/her group regarding all matters connected to health and safety and also discussions with managers regarding safety issues and other hazards. 
• The health and safety representative job role also encompasses monitoring whether the individual conducting the business or the undertaking meets all standards of health and safety. 
• The role of HSR also involves promoting the safety and health of workers in a group and also offering a crucial link of communication between people who are at work and the individual conducting the business/undertaking. 

The HSR should be a member of the working group that elected him/her and have not been disqualified from doing the duties of HSR as a result. Disqualification may only result if a tribunal/court declares that he/she has used any power/implemented a function for a purpose that is improper or disclosed/used information garnered for any purpose which is not proper. If the organisation or agency comes under the purview of legislation in the Commonwealth, the Work Health and Safety Act of 2011 will enable workers to get represented by an HSR (health and safety representative). If you work under any State-based authority, you will have to take reference from your State-based legislation. 

The importance of health and safety representative training programs

The sheer importance of proper health and safety representative training cannot be disputed. Here are 5 reasons why this is all the more crucial: 

• Helps in understanding more about the new role and responsibilities- HSRs undergoing training will be able to understand better their job roles and conduct proper analysis while taking improved decisions at the same time. HSRs will learn more about their specific functions and powers while also learning how to make decisions. They will get more information on understanding the statutory framework for health and safety, identification of all stakeholders within the workplace and their responsibilities, starting an effective system for consulting and resolving issues in the workplace, understanding when to direct workers to pause/stop work, understanding the issuing provisional improvement notices and so on. 
• Functioning as the voice of the employees- HSRs should undergo training in order to learn more about how they are the true voice of employees and their workgroups. Consultation is a vital aspect of any effective WHS management framework. The key objective of the consultation is the achievement of the agreement between employees and employers, that will make sure of a healthy and safe working environment along with more effective working practices, procedures and policies. Consultation is a two-way method between employees and employers, whereas all parties interact with each other for discussing health and safety aspects, listening to all concerns, enabling both parties to share and seek their views and consider what other parties state prior to taking decisions. Training will help in learning more about this process of consultation. 
• Risk management and related concerns- Risk management is highly effective for helping employers to do away with and manage risks better at workplaces. Employers usually respond to these risks for enhancing WHS performance levels. HSRs learn how to identify prospective risks before they take place. They learn how to plan systematic activities for risk management, covering various types of risks and associated hazards in turn. They learn how to control all hazards, execute risk-based controls, identify training needs and tracking risk controls. Training will help them identify risks better while supporting the workplace for managing the same better in turn. 
• Helping businesses enhance overall financial standing- HSRs who get training will always learn to be more proactive within the ambit of their specific responsibilities. They will be equipped to encourage workers to communicate honestly about safety and health issues. This will help the organization in tackling issues proactively in turn. This will improve the financial standing of the business through work environment improvements, lowering compensation claims, lowering work-related accidents, injuries and incidents, enhancing overall efficiency and also reducing compensation costs of workers, lost workdays, product losses and equipment damages and illness and injury rates alongside. 
• Improvement in performance- HSR training will help these elected representatives understand how to help in improving the overall performance of the business. Approved and trained HSRs will understand better in terms of fulfilling their specific job functions and responsibilities. They will be involved in a more proactive manner with health and safety aspects. This will enhance the cooperation, communication and consultation at the workplace and open and transparent communication will scale up overall participation alongside. The business will be identifying, controlling, assessing and tracking hazards of employees. 

As can be seen, training HSRs will go a long way towards enabling better business performance, improving financial standing and also mitigating and forecasting risks while learning how to exercise powers and functions.