Being an HSR

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 7, 3 October 2025, page no 23.

During Safe Work Month, we consider what we can do to make our workplaces safer, and having, or being, a health and safety representative (HSR) is one way. 

I’d never really considered being a HSR before. My last school had a very hard-working HSR, but my new school did not have one. I signed up for training. And my mind began to buzz. Could we use the HSR role to reduce sexual harassment and occupational violence and aggression? As a member of the QTU’s Women Teachers and Girls’ Education Committee (WTGEC), these are issues that I am particularly concerned about. 

There’s been an ongoing push to ensure a separate sexual harassment category in OneSchool behaviours, because without a way to track its prevalence, we could be told — as we have been on many occasions — that there was no issue because no one had reported it. I went to my training prepared to ask about these things, and also discovered many other things a HSR can do. 

As an HSR, you can ask to attend workplace health and safety officer meetings. You can ask to see all MyHR incident report summaries. You can investigate incidents and the concerns of staff. You can help staff “stop work” if there is a danger. You can issue a PIN (provisional improvement notice) for work to stop work in a situation involving a dangerous person, location, activity, or piece of equipment. You can call in an inspector. 

Let’s start with the MyHR summaries. I let my staff know I only get to see the summary, so if they would like me to assist with a MyHR, the summary has to contain the information they want me to know. Not only that, but we need to start recording all incidents on MyHR. If we are sexually harassed, we can record it on MyHR. If we witness sexual harassment of a student or staff member, we can record that as vicarious trauma on MyHR. This then can lead into the investigation. Staff can raise issues with you, and you can investigate them. You can also help them work through risk assessment creation, stop work, and eventually a PIN, if needed.

Now, I know what everyone is thinking: “I am so busy already, this seems like a lot of extra work.”  It is, but it is legislated, which means you must be given the time. It will be up to you and your principal how you “get back” this time. Some schools may decide that it is an allocation each week, others may decide it is an emerging situation and give time as needed. At my school, I keep track of the time I use, and if I have used my prep and correct time, I let the internal relief DP know and they give me the time back. 

Some of you may also be concerned that it will be an “us v them” situation with your principal. However, the principal is not the “person conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBU) for our workgroups. The principal is both a representative of the PCBU and a worker in your workgroup. It is important that you work with your principal, or their delegate, to help solve safe work issues within your workplace. 

Being an HSR is hard work, but it is rewarding. You may also learn something. For instance, I now know a lot more about manual arts classrooms and dust extraction than I ever thought I would as an English/humanities teacher.

Ren Johstone
Health and safety representative 

The department's responsibility
The QTU recognises that health and safety representatives (HSRs), along with elected Union Workplace Representatives, are a key pillar in helping members to improve their working conditions. 

The QTU continues to advocate that the PCBU (the department) is to be fully responsible for HSR funding, including:

• using the Teacher Relief Scheme (TRS) to allow teachers to be replaced to complete HSR training
• fully funding the training package from a central or regional level, not out of a school budget allocation
• making targeted WHS funding available to release HSRs to exercise their powers and function in line with the WHS Act 2011, s 68.

Due to the unique workplaces in which teachers operate, the Department of Education should provide examples of appropriate models of how teacher HSRs can perform their powers and functions. 
It should not be left to individual schools to develop these models.