Health and safety duties of employers and businesses are the responsibility of the ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU).
The new Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) introduces:
- a new term, 'person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU), that expands the duty of care for work health and safety to all persons who conduct a business or undertaking
- a new definition of 'workers' reflecting the diverse employment arrangements in many workplaces.
1. Person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU)
The new term 'person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) applies to individuals and organisations that are legal entities conducting a business or undertaking and include:
- public companies
- private companies
- partners in a partnership
- sole traders and self employed people
- government departments and authorities
- associations if they have one or more employees
- local government councils
- independent schools
- cooperatives
- universities.
2. Definition of workers
Any person who performs work in any capacity for a business or undertaking is a 'worker'. This includes any person who works as an:
- employee
- trainee
- volunteer
- outworker
- apprentice
- work experience student
- contractor or sub contractor
- employees of a contractor or sub contractor
- employee of a labour hire company assigned to work for a PCBU.
The result of these new definitions is that every person conducting a business or undertaking must fulfil its health and safety duties to anyone who may be affected by its operations, including volunteers.
Call 13 10 50 for more information about the work health and safety duties for employers and businesses.