Frequently Asked Questions

  • In Australia, PCBU is short for 'Person/s Conducting a Business or Undertaking'
  • In practice, at a work site, the Owner /Director of the work site – "has a Duty to provide a safe place of work"

  • This used to be the case prior to 2012, currently 'Workers', need to look after their own safety and that of their fellow Workers (members of your work team)
  • A Worker (by definition is meant to cover any other person in Australia) and can be, a Permanent Employee, a Casual, a Part-time Casual , a Volunteer, an Apprentice, a Relative, a Visitor, a Sub-Contractor and a Worker being in a Sub- Contracting Team. If they are provided a Safe Method of Work by a Supervisor /PCBU, then they must follow what are reasonable safety instructions.

  • On 23 October 2017, industrial manslaughter provisions in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), Electrical Safety Act 2002 (ES Act), and Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 (SRWA Act) commenced.
  • These provisions make it an offence for a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), or a senior officer, to negligently cause the death of a worker. In particular, the offence applies if:
    • a worker dies, or is injured and later dies, in the course of carrying out work for the business or undertaking (including during a work break); and
    • the PCBU's, or senior officer's, conduct cause the death of the worker (i.e. the action or inaction of the PCBU, or senior officer, substantially contributes to the death); and
    • the PCBU, or senior officer, is negligent about causing the death of the worker (i.e. the person's action or inaction departs so far from the standard of care required).
  • Where a PCBU, or senior officer, commits industrial manslaughter, a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for an individual, or $10M for a body corporate, applies.

Benefits

  • Even before the occurrence of Coronavirus in Australia, technology was moving forward that requires more user-friendly recording /reporting systems to help both the individual Workers to have a Safe Place of Work and the nominated Supervisor / PCBU to provide a Safe Place of Work.

If a State Safety Inspector visits your Worksite /Workshop you could be:

  • Immediately inspected for your In-place Safety Procedures.
  • Plant (any machinery) could be checked for Safety Compliance.
  • Evidence of Staff not being trained in WHS could lead to fines.
  • If there has been a 'Reportable Accident', then a visit will take place and a fine could be the least of your worries.

This practice is carried out by certain people in an effort to hide any 'dodgy practices' in the construction industry from State Safety Inspectors or Insurers or in QLD (the QBCC)

Why would they do this?

  • In a false belief that you could save money by not bothering about the safety details.
  • In an effort to conceal a lack of Industry Qualifications.
  • Unaware/ ignoring 'Industrial Manslaughter Laws'
  • They think 'I won't get caught. It won't happen to me'…

Investment

Cost per Month – about the same price as a Pie, a Coke and a Bag of Chips!

  • You only pay for the Field Technical Staff assigned to working safely

  • This is an easy set up for a monthly payment by Direct Debit through your business Banking Institution here in Australia – GST applied
  • No lock in contracts
  • Keep on top of all changes and compliant in any and all Legislation changes with the automatic upgrade feature
  • Never worry about your 'paperwork' going missing – it's all stored safely as and when you need it!

Yes! However this would only apply for the simpler 'one – off' jobs.

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Legislation :

From 1 July 2018 "persons conducting a business or undertaking, are required to comply with an approved code of practice under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 C' . Alternatively, duty holders can follow another method, such as a technical or an industry standard, to manage hazards and risks, as long as it provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety to the standard required in the code."

Industrial manslaughter :

On 23 October 2017, Industrial Manslaughter provisions in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), Electrical Safety Act 2002 (ES Act), and Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 (SRWA Act) commenced.

These provisions make it an offence for a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), or a senior officer, to negligently cause the death of a worker. In particular, the offence applies if:

  • a worker dies, or is injured and later dies, in the course of carrying out work for the business or undertaking (including during a work break); and
  • the PCBU's, or senior officer's, conduct cause the death of the worker (i.e. the action or inaction of the PCBU, or senior officer, substantially contributes to the death); and
  • the PCBU, or senior officer, is negligent about causing the death of the worker (i.e. the person's action or inaction departs so far from the standard of care required).

Where a PCBU, or senior officer, commits industrial manslaughter, a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for an individual, or $10M for a body corporate, applies.

Common Knowledge (and common sense) :

I am only a Subbie, so I don't need to do any of this!

Actually, you need to present a Site Specific SWMS to your Principal Contractor or sign up to and agree 100% to a SWMS presented to you by your Principal Contractor. Don't be the one to let the Team down!

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