What's in this template?
This WHS Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination Policy gives Australian healthcare practices the detailed procedure behind sections 46 to 49 of the WHS Act 2011: when consultation is legally required, how a Health and Safety Representative or committee operates if elected, and how the practice cooperates and coordinates with other businesses sharing its workplace.
The template includes:
- A statement of how this document relates to the WHS Policy, so the two are never confused
- The four triggers for mandatory consultation under section 49
- An HSR and committee position table, built to be completed honestly rather than describe an arrangement the practice does not have
- The practical mechanics of consultation: standing meeting items, circulating drafts, and recording disagreement
- The cooperation and coordination duty for shared premises, contractors and locums
- Appendix A: a consultation log
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The procedure behind the policy's summary
Your WHS Policy already includes a section on "Consultation, Cooperation, and Coordination" covering worker consultation mechanisms, team meetings and HSR or committee arrangements at a summary level. This document is not a competing version of that section. It is the detailed procedure the summary points to: exactly what triggers consultation, how a Health and Safety Representative election works if requested, and how a shared workplace with another business is coordinated.
Most small to medium practices will find their honest answer to "do we have an HSR or committee" is no, because no worker has requested one, and that is entirely compliant provided the direct consultation mechanisms this policy sets out, a standing meeting item, circulated drafts, an open door to raise a concern, are actually used. The template is built around that reality rather than assuming every practice has a formal committee structure.
What sections 46 to 49 actually require
Section 47 requires the practice to consult, so far as reasonably practicable, with workers who are directly affected by a health and safety matter. Section 49 sets out when that duty is triggered: identifying a hazard, assessing or deciding how to control a risk, assessing the adequacy of welfare facilities, proposing a change that may affect health or safety, and developing a health and safety policy or procedure, which includes every WHS document the practice writes, this one included.
Section 48 is specific about what genuine consultation looks like: workers must be given relevant information, a reasonable opportunity to express their views, and those views must actually be taken into account before a decision is finalised. Presenting a completed policy for sign-off is not consultation under this standard; circulating a draft and recording the feedback received is.
Section 46 extends the duty beyond the practice's own workers. Where the practice shares a workplace or work with another business, whether a co-located specialist, a locum, a cleaning contractor or a building manager, each party has WHS duties for the same matters and must consult, cooperate and coordinate with the others so a hazard is not left unmanaged because everyone assumed someone else was covering it.
How to customise this template
- Download the Word document and replace every
{{placeholder}}with your details. - Answer Section 4 honestly. If no HSR has been requested and no committee exists, say so, and rely on the direct mechanisms in Section 5 instead of describing a structure the practice does not have.
- Confirm the mechanism in Section 5 matches reality. If health and safety is not currently a standing agenda item at team meetings, add it before publishing the policy, not after.
- List your actual shared-workplace relationships in Section 6: a co-located tenant, a pathology collection service, a cleaning contractor, a locum's own practice.
- Start using Appendix A for any significant hazard, risk or proposed change from the day the policy is adopted, so there is a record of genuine consultation, not just a policy that describes an intention to consult.
- Review every two years, or sooner if an HSR is elected or a committee is formed.
Related templates and tools
- WHS Policy: the overarching document whose consultation summary this policy is the detailed procedure for.
- WHS Hazard and Risk Register: the register consultation feeds into when a new hazard or risk is identified.
- WHS Psychosocial Hazards and Workplace Wellbeing Policy: consultation is required before finalising psychosocial risk controls, the same as any other hazard.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a Health and Safety Representative?
Only if a worker requests one. An HSR is elected on request, not mandated by default, and a practice with no HSR and no committee can still be fully compliant provided it consults through other means, such as team meetings and an open channel to raise concerns. The template's Section 4 is built to record either position accurately.
When does the practice have to form a health and safety committee?
Where 5 or more workers request one, the practice must establish a committee within 2 months of that request. Outside that trigger, forming a committee is optional, and many small practices consult effectively without one.
What actually counts as consultation, versus just telling staff what was decided?
Genuine consultation, under section 48, means workers are given relevant information, a real opportunity to give their views, and those views are taken into account before the decision is finalised. Circulating a completed policy for staff to read is not consultation. Circulating a draft, asking for feedback, and recording what was raised and how it was addressed, is.
Does this apply to a solo GP with no other clinical staff?
The consultation duty applies to workers, which can include reception and administrative staff even where there is only one practitioner. And the cooperation and coordination duty in Section 6 applies regardless of practice size wherever the practice shares a workplace with another business, such as a co-located allied health provider or a cleaning contractor.
How is this different from just having good staff meetings?
Good meetings are the mechanism, not the whole duty. The distinguishing element the WHS Act requires is that the four triggers in Section 3, a new hazard, a risk decision, welfare facilities, and any new WHS policy or significant change, are specifically raised for consultation before they are finalised, and that the discussion and any disagreement are recorded. A general staff meeting that never surfaces WHS decisions before they are made does not meet the duty even if it happens every week.
What do we do if a worker disagrees with a proposed control?
Record the disagreement and genuinely consider it before finalising the decision, which is what Section 5 and Appendix A are built to capture. The WHS Act does not require the practice to adopt every view raised, but it does require that the view was actually considered, not just heard and set aside.