Safe Work Australia has released a case study in its WHS Principles series that provides clear and accurate guidance on the WHS duties owed by PCBU who are supplying and hiring labour hire workers. Finally! guidance that clearly confirms that a PCBU’s duties only extend to the matters over which they have management and control/ influence and control. The case study looks at two PCBU, Good Catering who is the host employer and Event Labour who is the labour supplier. It confirms that “Both PCBUs must discharge their duty to the extent they influence and control the labour hire workers. It confirms that “Good Catering is in the best position to take action to address risks to labour hire workers when they are on placement.” and “Event Labour can also take steps before and during the placement of the labour hire workers to ensure their health and safety.” The case study then goes on to describe how each PCBU can meets it duties in respect of specific matters. For example, when meeting the duty to provide information, instruction and supervision, “Good Catering will provide workers with information and instruction on how to perform the work and how risks to their health and safety will be managed, as well as the supervision and support to be provided”. By contrast “Event Labour will inform workers of the tasks they will be performing, and processes for reporting any concerns or issues”. It goes a bit too far requiring Event Labour to review Good Caterings WHS management system but overall, a nice bit of guidance, click here to view.
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