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Host employer in a labour hire arrangement

Host employer in a labour hire arrangement

A guide for a host employer to understand and manage the health and safety of labour hire workers.

Learn what labour hire is, your rights and obligations.

A host employer has an important role and responsibilities with any labour hire worker who does work for them.

1. Rights and responsibilities

Everyone has a right to a safe workplace – and everyone has a role to play in keeping it safe. It’s important that new workers understand what their rights and responsibilities are, as well as the rights and responsibilities of you, the host employer.

2. Workplace hazards

Workers need to be aware of hazards so they can let you know if there are unsafe conditions that need to be fixed. It’s important that you identify all hazards to workers – even if they seem obvious. Also, explain what systems or measures you’ve put in place to minimise the hazard.

3. Safe work procedures

In most workplaces there are tasks that require specific safe work procedures and workers should be given step-by-step training on these by a suitably skilled and knowledgeable person. Don’t just tell them the steps or have them read the instructions, make sure they understand how to do the task safely and can demonstrate how to do it safely.

4. What you must do

Look after your workers' health and safety

You must look after the health and safety of your workers at work:

provide labour hire workers with a workplace specific induction. This will usually cover all the work health and safety elements particular to the workplace and the tasks they will be performing. See our Induction checklist for host employers (PDF)
show them how to do their job safely or make sure someone suitably skilled and knowledgeable shows them how to do the job safely
make sure they understand the instructions they have been given, you may have to consider additional tools such as posters or audio training for example, or the use of a translator
ask the worker to demonstrate their understanding
make sure they are supervised by a competent person
do not ask them to do anything that needs a special licence, like drive a car, a crane or a forklift, if they don’t have the right licence
ensure they have the right tools and equipment to do their job safely
give them safety equipment if they need it to do their job
ensure workers understand that if they see any unsafe or damaged plant or equipment they should raise it with a supervisor immediately
ensure the worker knows the work health and safety consultation process and how to report incidents and hazards
ensure worker understand that they are required to report unsafe conditions and practices
consult the worker and the labour hire PCBU before any change to the scope or location of their work
undertake all required health monitoring, if required for the job.

Communicate with the labour hire agency or Group Training Organisation

A host employer should work with the labour hire agency or group training organisation to jointly manage the health and safety of labour hire workers place who carry out work within the workplace by:

providing detailed information about the nature of work to be carried out, associated hazards and risk control measures
providing detailed information about your work health and safety management system
providing access to work health and safety system information
supporting requests to visit the workplace
consulting when carrying out an assessment of risk and identified controls.
consulting on WHS matters including plan and equipment to be used at workplace and the required controls and personal protective equipment (PPE).
consulting about any intended changes to the role of the labour hire worker including their role description, tasks and or location during placement.
verifying that workers have the necessary qualifications, licences, skills and training to carry out work safely.
providing adequate arrangements to provide training information and supervision to workers.
ensuring that there is a system to report workplace incidents and injuries, undertake an investigation and identify actions to prevent a reoccurrence.

5. Safety equipment

Work safety equipment is usually called personal protective equipment (PPE). You and the labour hire agency need to agree who will provide it.

To determine the PPE required, it is necessary to conduct a risk assessment on the work to be undertaken.

There are special types of equipment for each job. This could be a hard hat, goggles or safety eye glasses, gloves, boots, aprons, and hearing protection. PPE needs to be in good condition and it should fit comfortably. Workers need to know how to use it and need to wear it properly.

Your workers may think of something extra they need to do their job safely, in which case they should be able to approach you or a more experienced worker, or the Health and Safety Representative (HSR) if there is one at your workplace, in order to decide if it is required.

6. What workers must do to keep themselves safe at work

In Australia, the law also says there are things workers must do to look after their own health and safety at work.

They must:

be fit enough to do the job they are employed to do
be well enough to carry out their duties safely
do what they are instructed to do if it is reasonable, unless they think it is unsafe or could cause harm to themselves or others
not do anything that would hurt them or anyone else at work
follow the safe work health and safety policies and procedures of the business.

The law says workers have the right to ask questions about the work they have been asked to do and to say no if they are asked to do work that they feel is unsafe. If they don’t want to talk to their supervisor about this, they should also know to talk to the labour hire agency about their work health and safety.

There should be a person at the workplace that can help them with any questions about work health and safety – ensure they know who this is and how to contact them.

7. Bullying

Bullying is repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety in the workplace. It could be things like laughing at the worker, calling them unkind names, pushing into them or breaking their things.

Nobody should be bullied at work. You should let workers know that bullying is not tolerated, and let new workers know how to report if they are being bullied.

Find more information on workplace bullying.

8. Work injuries

Workers need to know what to do if they get injured at work. Ensure they know where and how to get first aid, or to have someone take them to see a doctor or nurse straight away. They have the right to choose the doctor they want.

Workers may be afraid they will get into trouble if they are hurt, especially if they have made a mistake. Reassure them that this would not be the case and that their health and safety is of the utmost importance, and that they should ask for help and report any injuries, incidents (including near-misses) or work related illnesses as soon as they occur, to both the host PCBU and the labour hire PCBU.

Find more information on being injured at work.

9. Drugs, alcohol and substances

Drug, alcohol and other substance misuse is everyone’s responsibility. It affects workplace health, safety and productivity.

Employers and businesses (and other PCBUs) should manage the work-related risks associated with alcohol and other drugs.

Find more information on drugs, alcohol and substances in the workplace.

Easy to do Work Health and Safety toolkit

The Easy to do Work Health and Safety Toolkit is a self-assessment toolkit to improve health and safety in the workplace. We understand small businesses don’t always feel they have the time, resources or expertise when it comes to managing health and safety in their workplace. We have developed the ‘Easy to do Work Health and Safety Toolkit’ to make it easier for small businesses to understand and meet their work health and safety obligations.

Find more information on completing the assessment or a tour.

Contact

If you are worried about anything to do with health and safety at work, or about workers compensation, you can get further information and advice from the following:

To ask about work health and safety contact:

SafeWork NSW
Website: safework.nsw.gov.au/contact-us
Email: contact@safework.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 13 10 50

To ask about workers compensation contact:

State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA)
Website: sira.nsw.gov.au/contact-us
Email: contact@sira.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 13 10 50

If you need an interpreter, call the Telephone Interpreter Service on 13 14 50.