WHS Duties When You Engage Contractors: A Guide for PCBUs

Bringing in a contractor does not hand your safety duties to them. Under Australia's work health and safety (WHS) laws, you and the contractor can both hold duties for the same work, at the same time.

This post is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, check with your state or territory regulator.

What a PCBU is

PCBU stands for "person conducting a business or undertaking". WorkSafe WA puts it simply: the law places the primary duty on the business owner or employer, and calls them a PCBU.

A person can hold more than one role. Safe Work Australia notes that a self-employed person may be both a PCBU and a worker at the same time, which describes a lot of contractors.

Contractors count as your workers

The model WHS laws define "worker" broadly. In the Queensland version of the Act, section 7 lists a contractor or subcontractor, and an employee of a contractor or subcontractor, alongside employees, labour hire workers, apprentices and volunteers.

That matters because of the primary duty of care. Under section 19, a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers it engages or causes to be engaged, and workers whose work it influences or directs.

In plain terms: the plumber you booked, and the apprentice they bring along, are inside your duty while they work for you.

You cannot contract out of it

Safe Work Australia is direct about this. A PCBU cannot "contract out" of their responsibility, and a duty cannot be transferred to another person.

When more than one PCBU has a duty for the same matter, each one keeps it. Each must meet it to the extent of their capacity to influence and control the matter.

Consult, cooperate and coordinate

Shared duties come with a duty to work together. Section 46 says each person with a duty for the same matter must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with the others.

On a building site, that might be the principal contractor and each subcontractor. In a venue, it might be you, the caterer and the AV company bumping in on the same afternoon.

Safe Work Australia's guidance on working with other duty holders suggests starting the conversation as soon as you know who is involved. The aim is a shared understanding of the risks, how each party's work affects the others, and who is best placed to manage each risk.

You can make agreements with other PCBUs about who does what, as long as they do not limit your own obligations.

What "reasonably practicable" means

Most of these duties are qualified by "so far as is reasonably practicable". It is not a loophole. It means what is, or was, reasonably able to be done at the time to ensure health and safety, weighing up:

• how likely the hazard or risk is
• how much harm it could cause
• what you know, or ought reasonably to know, about it and how to deal with it
• what ways of eliminating or minimising it are available and suitable
• the cost, including whether it is grossly disproportionate to the risk

Cost comes last, and only after you have assessed the risk and the options.

Records that help show what you did

No folder of paperwork discharges a duty. But records help you show what steps you took, and some are tied to specific requirements.

• Licences and tickets. Under the model WHS Regulations, a worker must hold the right high risk work licence before a PCBU can direct them to do high risk work, such as scaffolding or operating a forklift. Licences expire, so the date matters.
• White cards. Workers must have a construction induction card before they start work on a construction site.
• SWMS. A PCBU carrying out high risk construction work has duties to prepare, keep, comply with and review a safe work method statement, and must give it to the principal contractor.
• Site induction. A record that each person was taken through your site rules and hazards, and when.
• Insurance. Your contracts or clients may ask for public liability and workers' compensation certificates. These are a commercial matter rather than a WHS duty, but they tend to be collected at the same time. See what a certificate of currency is.
• Who is on site. Your duty includes preparing and maintaining emergency plans. A current list of who is on site makes those plans easier to carry out.

Victoria and Western Australia

The model WHS laws have been implemented in every jurisdiction except Victoria.

Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. It uses "employer" rather than PCBU, and WorkSafe Victoria says employers owe the same duty to independent contractors and their employees working at the workplace, but only for matters the employer has, or should have, control over.

Western Australia passed its own version of the model laws. The Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and its regulations came into effect on 31 March 2022, and they use the PCBU framework.

Other states and territories have their own variations too, so check the version that applies where you work.

Where WorkZerk fits

WorkZerk gives each contractor one private link to upload their licences, insurance and SWMS, sign your agreement and tick off your induction. It records expiry dates, sends renewal reminders, shows who holds a current approved copy, and can keep a site check-in roster. It keeps the records; the duties stay with you. See contractor compliance and contractor onboarding in Australia.

Where to check

This is a summary, not the law. Read the guidance from Safe Work Australia, and contact the WHS regulator in your state or territory for advice on your own situation.