24Designated work groups

#### 24 Designated work groups (1) An employee may request his or her employer to: (a) establish designated work groups in respect of employees of the employer; or (b) vary designated work groups that have already been established. (1A) An employee representative in respect of an employee of an employer may, if requested by the employee, request the employer to: (a) establish designated work groups in respect of employees of the employer; or (b) vary designated work groups that have already been established. (2) The employer must, within 14 days after receiving a request under subsection (1) or (1A), enter into consultations to establish or vary (as the case requires) designated work groups with: (a) the employer’s employees; and (b) if an employee of the employer requests that the employer enter into consultations with an employee representative in relation to the employee—that employee representative. (3) If an employer believes that designated work groups should be varied, the employer may at any time enter into consultations about the variation with: (a) the health and safety representative of each designated work group proposed to be varied; and (b) if an employee in a designated work group proposed to be varied requests that the employer also enter into such consultations with an employee representative in relation to the designated work group—that employee representative. (4) If, in the course of consultations under subsection (2) or (3), there is a disagreement between any of the parties to the consultation concerning the manner of establishing or varying a designated work group, any party may, for the purpose of facilitating that consultation, refer the matter of disagreement to the reviewing authority and, where this is done, the parties to the disagreement must complete the consultation in accordance with the resolution of that matter by the reviewing authority. (5) Within 14 days after the completion of consultations concerning the establishment of the designated work groups, the employer must, by notifying the employees of the employer, establish the designated work groups in accordance with the outcome of the consultations. (6) Within 14 days after the completion of consultations concerning the variation of designated work groups that have already been established, the employer must, if it has been determined that the variation of some or all of those designated work groups is justified, by notifying the employees of the employer who are affected by the variation, vary the designated work groups in accordance with the outcome of the consultations. (7) Consultations relating to the establishment or variation of a designated work group must be directed principally at the determination of the manner of grouping employees: (a) that best and most conveniently enables the employees’ interests relating to occupational health and safety to be represented and safeguarded; and (b) that best takes account of the need for any health and safety representative selected for that designated work group to be accessible to each employee included in the group; and, for these purposes, the parties to the consultations must have regard, in particular, to: (c) the number of the employees; and (d) the nature of each type of work performed by the employees; and (e) the number and grouping of the employees who perform the same or similar types of work; and (f) the workplaces, and the areas within the workplaces, where each type of work is performed; and (g) the nature of any risks to health and safety at the workplaces; and (h) any overtime or shift working arrangements at the workplaces. (8) The designated work groups must be established in such a manner that, and must only be varied in such a manner that, so far as is reasonably practicable, each of the employees is included in a designated work group. (9) All of an employer’s employees may be included in one designated work group.