WHS Duties are NOT transferable to subcontractors

Construction company Managers are reminded that their Duties under the WHS Act 2012 are not transferable to other people, including  subcontractors.

Some examples of duties of the Principal Contractor include:

• Prepare a WHS Management Plan for each project before commencing work.
• Ensure each person is made aware of WHS Management plan before commencing work.
• Obtain copy of SWMS from subcontractors for high risk construction work.
• Ensure SWMS are readily accessible to any worker engaged in high risk work.
• Ensure all Workers have a white card.
• Provide Workers with a site induction.
• Collect copies of High Risk Work Licences where applicable.
• Keep all records for 2 years if incident occurs.

 

The SA Industrial Court recently imposed a $150,000 fine on a labour hire company.
SafeWork SA Executive Director, Ms Marie Boland, commented that:

“This conviction reinforces that a labour hire company has a work health and safety duty to employees
which cannot be delegated to others including joint venture partners,” Ms Boland said.

Read more about this fine here.

 

You can view the SA WHS Act from this page