A safety representative is an employee designated in writing to represent colleagues on health and safety matters. The role is created by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires employers with more than twenty employees to designate representatives after consultation with the workforce.
This guide sets out safety representative duties and responsibilities in practical terms. It sits in the Security and safety duties and responsibilities cluster, part of the wider job duties guide. It is general information and not legal advice.
What Does a Safety Representative Do?
A safety representative inspects the workplace, identifies hazards, raises them with the employer, investigates incidents and complaints, and takes part in the health and safety committee. It is a part-time function performed alongside the person’s normal job, during working hours.
The point that is most often misunderstood is where accountability sits. A safety representative represents employees and identifies problems; the employer remains responsible for providing a safe workplace and for fixing what is raised. A representative is not personally liable for hazards they report but which the employer fails to address.
The Act also protects the function: representatives are entitled to the training, facilities and time needed to perform it, and should not be disadvantaged for carrying it out properly.
Key Safety Representative Duties and Responsibilities
- Conducting regular inspections of the designated area of the workplace.
- Identifying hazards and unsafe practices and recording them.
- Reporting hazards to the employer and following up on corrective action.
- Investigating incidents, injuries and near misses in the represented area.
- Investigating health and safety complaints raised by employees.
- Attending and contributing to health and safety committee meetings.
- Making representations to the employer on health and safety matters.
- Accompanying an inspector during a workplace inspection.
- Participating in internal health and safety audits and risk assessments.
- Checking the effectiveness of safety measures already in place.
- Promoting safety awareness and reporting among colleagues.
- Keeping records of inspections, findings and representations made.
The number of representatives required depends on the size and risk of the workplace, and they are designated for a specific area or shift rather than the site as a whole.
Daily Tasks of a Safety Representative
- Ongoing: perform your normal job while watching for hazards and unsafe practice.
- Scheduled: carry out area inspections using the checklist and record findings.
- On report: receive an employee concern, look into it and raise it with the employer.
- After an incident: take part in the investigation and record contributing factors.
- Monthly or quarterly: attend the committee, table findings and track outstanding actions.
Safety Representative Skills and Competencies
- Hazard awareness: seeing risk in work that everyone has stopped noticing.
- Willingness to raise things: reporting a hazard that management would rather not hear.
- Record keeping: written findings, dated, so follow-up can be evidenced.
- Legislative knowledge: understanding the Act and the regulations that apply to your site.
- Communication: representing colleagues’ concerns accurately at committee.
- Persistence: following up until a corrective action is actually closed.
Safety Representative Duties by Workplace or Industry
Manufacturing and Industrial
Inspections focus on machine guarding, lockout procedures, noise, chemical handling and protective equipment, with representatives designated per shift and area.
Construction
Duties involve scaffolding, working at height, excavations, plant movement and contractor coordination, under the Construction Regulations in addition to the Act.
Offices and Retail
Focus shifts to emergency evacuation, fire equipment, ergonomics, housekeeping and slip and trip hazards in customer and staff areas.
Healthcare and Laboratories
Duties include sharps handling, biological and chemical exposure, waste segregation and infection control alongside the standard inspection routine.
Across all of these settings the function is the same: an employee close enough to the work to see what is actually happening, with a formal route to raise it and a record that shows they did.
Safety Representative Duties for a CV
State that the appointment was in writing and give the area and workforce size. Use the duties for a CV guide for the method.
- Designated safety representative under the OHS Act for an area of 90 employees.
- Conducted monthly inspections and logged findings for committee review.
- Participated in incident investigations and tracked corrective actions to closure.
- Served on the health and safety committee for three years.
Related Job Roles and Responsibilities
These guides cover the roles and next steps most closely related to this one.
- SHE Representative duties and responsibilities
- Safety Officer duties and responsibilities
- First Aider duties and responsibilities
- Risk Manager duties and responsibilities
- Security and safety duties
Frequently Asked Questions About Safety Representative Duties
What are the duties of a safety representative?
Inspecting the designated workplace area, identifying and recording hazards, reporting them to the employer and following up, investigating incidents and complaints, attending health and safety committee meetings, making representations, accompanying inspectors, participating in audits and risk assessments and keeping records of findings.
Who must appoint safety representatives?
The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires an employer with more than twenty employees at a workplace to designate health and safety representatives in writing, after consultation with employees. Confirm the current requirements with the Department of Employment and Labour.
Is a safety representative liable for accidents?
The Act places the duty to provide a safe workplace on the employer, and it provides that a representative does not incur civil liability by reason of failing to do anything required of them in that capacity. Any specific concern should go to a legal practitioner.
Is a safety representative the same as a safety officer?
No. A safety representative is an employee designated to represent colleagues part-time on safety matters. A safety officer is usually a full-time appointed professional responsible for managing the safety system across the site.
This page is general information and not legal advice. The Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations govern this role and take precedence over this guide.
Last reviewed: 2 September 2026