Enhancing Safety Through Effective Teamwork: Insights from the Science of Teamwork and WHS Work Groups

Introduction

Effective teamwork is critical in various industries, particularly in ensuring work health and safety (WHS). Research into the science of teamwork highlights the significance of collaboration, communication, and psychological safety in achieving high-performance outcomes. Work groups within the WHS context play a vital role in supporting workers’ representation and ensuring safety measures are both practical and effective. By integrating insights from teamwork science with WHS practices, businesses can foster a safer and more cooperative work environment.

The Science of Teamwork

The study of teamwork has evolved to focus on key factors that enhance team effectiveness. Three critical aspects include:

1. Psychological Safety: Teams perform best when members feel safe to voice concerns, share ideas, and acknowledge mistakes without fear of retaliation. This open environment fosters proactive problem-solving and continuous improvement.
2. Essential Teamwork Competencies: Regardless of industry, all teams benefit from strong coordination, clear communication, and adaptability to changing conditions. These skills are fundamental in ensuring safety and efficiency.
3. Context-Driven Team Dynamics: While teams differ based on their work environments, shared patterns of effective teamwork—such as trust, role clarity, and structured collaboration—enhance performance and reduce risks.

These principles directly translate to WHS, where teamwork is essential in identifying, assessing, and mitigating workplace hazards.  For example, a mining services cleaning company responsible for cleaning site offices and private rooms, will encounter risks such as interactions of mobile plant, exposure to hazardous chemicals, fatigue and possible harassment from social interactions.

WHS Work Groups

A work group is a structured assembly of workers designed to facilitate WHS consultation and representation. These groups are established to enable Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) to advocate for worker safety, ensuring that risks are managed effectively.  Division 3 of the WHS Act 2020 (WA) steps out requirements for Health and Safety Representatives and Work Groups.

A Work Group is defined a group of workers established to facilitate the representation of workers by one or more health and safety representatives. A work group may be all workers at a workplace but it may also be appropriate to split a workplace into multiple work groups where workers share similar work conditions or are exposed to similar risks and hazards. For example all workers on night shift or all workers in a processing area of a mine.

Work groups are particularly useful in dynamic work environments where workers share similar work conditions or exposure to hazards, such as those working night shifts, high-risk work, or remote locations. By applying teamwork principles, WHS work groups can improve safety outcomes in the following ways:

1. Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety: Just as effective teams thrive in environments where members feel safe to speak up, WHS work groups must establish trust, ensuring that workers can raise concerns without fear of repercussions.
2. Enhancing Communication and Coordination: WHS work groups function as key method for information-sharing, ensuring all members are informed of potential hazards, safety procedures, and risk mitigation strategies.
3. Building Cohesion Across Teams and Duty Holders: Many workplaces require coordination between multiple duty holders, such as contractors, management, and employees. Work groups act as a bridge between these stakeholders, aligning efforts to create a safer work environment.

Spring Safety Warning – Don’t make a HSR your safety adviser. While HSRs play a vital role in advocating for safe practices, they are not intended to serve as safety advisers or assume managerial responsibilities for safety compliance.

Tips for working with HSRs

Safety adviser should:

• Give HSRs full support and access to necessary equipment and facilities.
• Understand the role and function of the HSR and other representatives.
• Involve HSRs as potential champions to assist in the promotion of work health and safety in your team
• Consult regularly with HSRs, even if it is informally.
• Arrange specific meetings with HSRs for key issues such as high-risk areas, proposed changes in the workplace and health surveillance issues.

Spring Safety Tip – If HSR and Work Groups are not suited to your workplace, establish a Committee for General WHS Management and a Working Group for particular complex areas e.g. psychosocial hazard management.

Conclusion

The principles derived from the science of teamwork provide valuable insights into how WHS work groups can enhance workplace safety. Psychological safety, strong communication, and structured coordination are key drivers of effective WHS consultation. By fostering these elements within work groups, businesses can ensure compliance with WHS legislation while actively improving workplace safety and employee well-being. Integrating teamwork research with WHS practices leads to safer, more efficient, and more engaged workplaces.

References

Safety practitioners and advisers | Comcare

Salas, E., Reyes, D. L., & McDaniel, S. H. (2018). The science of teamwork: Progress, reflections, and the road ahead. American Psychologist, 73(4), 593–600. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000334

Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination: Code of practice – WorkSafe – DEMIRS