Contractors and labour hire

If you are employed as a contractor or sub-contractor, or through a labour hire recruiter or agency, you are a worker and have the same obligations to ensure your own and your co-workers’ health and safety.

Sometimes though, you might be unclear about what your, your host employer and your agency's specific responsibilities are for health and safety in the workplace.

Safe Work Australia guidance

This Safe Work Australia guide Labour hire: duties of persons conducting a business or undertaking provides information for labour hire agencies legal obligations under the model Work Health and Safety laws.

Employee or contractor

Usually, a ‘contractor’ means a person who is engaged by any person (except as an employee) to do any work for gain or reward. There are some common factors that may contribute to determining whether you are an employee or independent contractor are listed in the table below.

Labour hire workers

Labour hire workers are workers who are directly employed by an agency which then ‘on-hires’ them to perform labour for a different employer. The first company is responsible for payment and other employee entitlements. The second company directs the worker tasks.

Both the labour hire agency and host organisation are responsible for making sure a specific risk assessment of potential hazards is undertaken and appropriate safety measures are put into place.

The individual worker still has an obligation to look after their own and others health and safety in the workplace.

Work health and safety issues

There are general concerns about the work health and safety of labour hire workers. This is because they are often:

• less experienced due to an average younger age
• exposed to greater work intensification pressures
• exposed to greater risks in general
• less likely to have control over how tasks are performed
• less represented at workplaces
• more frequently exposed to unfamiliar workplaces
• less likely to receive workplace specific training and induction
• unsure of who they report to on the job.

The problems for injured labour-hire workers are compounded when they do not have a specific work site to return to for rehabilitation and return to work duties.

Labour-hire workers are also more vulnerable in the workplace when:

• labour-hire agencies neglect to carry out site-specific risk assessments before placement of the worker and they don’t conduct monitoring visits
• communication between the labour-hire agency and host employer is poor with no systems in place to identify changes to the work tasks or environment
• there is no follow up or verification that risk assessments and training have been completed.

Workers compensation and health and safety responsibilities

A labour hire agency must provide workers compensation coverage for its workers and ensure their health and safety in the workplace.

The host organisation has an obligation to ensure the safety of labour hire workers and ensure that labour hire workers on site are not exposed to risks.

To comply with existing health and safety legislation we recommend that the agency and host organisation work together to:

• implement effective health and safety management systems to manage hazards and risks
• provide an adequate induction and site- and task-specific training
• ensure the appropriateness of pre-placement assessments for labour hire workers
• make sure there is sufficient safety representation and consultation
• maintain continual and effective communication between all parties.

Further information

Labour hire

Find assistance with the induction of labour hire workers for host PCBUs.

Find information for Group Training Organisation persons conducting a business or undertaking (GTO PCBUs) involved in the supply of apprentices and trainees to work for another.