What is a PCBU?
A PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) is the primary duty holder under Australia's Work Health and Safety Act 2011. The term represents a deliberate shift from the traditional "employer" concept, designed to capture the full complexity of modern work arrangements where safety obligations can't be avoided through contractual structures.
Understanding the Legislative Shift
Before 2011, Australian workplace safety laws relied heavily on the employer-employee relationship to trigger safety duties. This created dangerous gaps as businesses increasingly used contractors, labour hire, and complex supply chains. A principal contractor could claim they had no duty to a subcontractor's workers because there was no direct employment contract.
The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 closed this loophole by introducing the PCBU concept. The law now follows the work, not the contract. Any entity conducting business or undertaking that creates risk must manage that risk, regardless of how they've structured their workforce.
This framework has been adopted by all Australian jurisdictions except Victoria, which still operates under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 using "employer" terminology. Businesses operating nationally must navigate both systems.
Who Qualifies as a PCBU?
The definition deliberately casts a wide net. A PCBU can be any legal entity conducting organised work activities, whether for profit or not. This includes companies (public and private), government departments at all levels, partnerships where each partner may be a PCBU, sole traders running businesses, unincorporated associations, and volunteer organisations that employ even a single paid worker.
The distinction between "business" and "undertaking" is significant. A business implies commercial activity conducted with continuity and system. An undertaking captures non-commercial organised activities like council services or charitable work that still involve managing workers and risk.
Importantly, certain entities are explicitly excluded. A volunteer association with no paid employees is not a PCBU. However, the moment that group employs anyone, the entire organisation becomes a PCBU with duties to all workers, including volunteers. Private householders engaging tradespeople for domestic work are generally not PCBUs. Elected local councillors acting in that capacity are also excluded.
Track contractors, subcontractors, and labour hire workers in one system with complete visibility of who's on site and their safety credentials.
The Primary Duty of Care
Section 19 of the WHS Act establishes the core obligation. A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of three categories of people: workers they engage or cause to be engaged, workers whose activities they influence or direct (capturing contractors and labour hire), and other persons who might be affected by the work (including visitors and the public).
This duty is comprehensive. The PCBU must provide and maintain a safe work environment, safe plant and structures, safe systems of work, safe use and handling of substances, adequate welfare facilities, and sufficient information, training, instruction, and supervision. They must also monitor worker health and workplace conditions to prevent illness or injury. This includes ensuring proper induction and competency verification for all workers.
Critically, this duty is non-delegable. A PCBU cannot contract out of their safety obligations by writing clauses into agreements that shift responsibility to others. While tasks can be delegated to safety managers or consultants, the legal accountability remains with the PCBU. If the system fails, the PCBU is liable.
The "Reasonably Practicable" Standard
The PCBU's duty is not absolute—it's qualified by what is "reasonably practicable." This is an objective legal test based on what a reasonable person in the PCBU's position would have done at the time. Ignorance or budget constraints alone don't provide a defence.
Section 18 of the Act requires five specific factors to be weighed in order. First, the likelihood of the hazard occurring. Second, the degree of potential harm—even low-probability risks require robust controls if the potential consequence is death or serious injury. Third, what the person knows or ought reasonably to know about the hazard and available controls—including what's documented in relevant Codes of Practice. Fourth, the availability and suitability of control measures. Finally, cost—but only if the expense is grossly disproportionate to the risk being managed.
| Factor | Consideration |
|---|---|
| Likelihood | How probable is the risk? Based on data and workplace history. |
| Severity | How serious would the consequences be? Death or catastrophic injury demand strict controls. |
| Knowledge | What does the PCBU know or should reasonably know? Ignorance is not a defence. |
| Availability | Are suitable control measures available in the market? |
| Cost | Is the cost grossly disproportionate to the risk? Expense alone doesn't justify inaction. |
When applying these factors, PCBUs must follow the hierarchy of controls. The goal is always to eliminate the risk. If elimination isn't reasonably practicable, risks must be minimised through substitution, isolation, or engineering controls. Administrative controls and personal protective equipment are last resorts.
PCBUs, Officers, and Worker Responsibilities
Understanding the distinction between entity and individual duties is essential. The PCBU is the business or organisation itself—the company, the partnership, the government department. Officers are the individuals who make decisions affecting the whole or substantial part of the business: directors, CEOs, CFOs, and company secretaries.
While the PCBU holds the primary duty to ensure health and safety, Officers have a separate personal duty under Section 27 to exercise due diligence. This means they must actively ensure the PCBU complies with its obligations. An Officer can be prosecuted for failing due diligence even if the PCBU itself hasn't been convicted.
Due diligence requires six specific actions: acquiring and maintaining current knowledge of WHS matters, understanding the nature of operations and associated hazards, ensuring the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes for risk management, ensuring information about incidents and risks flows to decision-makers, ensuring compliance processes are implemented, and verifying that resources and processes are actually being used effectively. This prevents "paper safety" where policies exist but aren't followed.
Workers also have duties—to take reasonable care for their own health and safety, to comply with instructions, and not to adversely affect others' safety. However, their liability is limited compared to PCBUs and Officers, as they don't control systemic issues.
Automated compliance reporting shows exactly what safety processes are in place, how they're being used, and where gaps exist.
Multiple PCBUs and Coordination
Modern worksites frequently involve multiple PCBUs operating simultaneously—principal contractors, subcontractors, labour hire agencies, and host employers all present at once. The law is clear: each PCBU retains their own duty of care. Duties overlap but cannot be transferred.
Section 46 requires PCBUs to consult, cooperate, and coordinate activities with all other duty holders. On a construction site, for example, the principal contractor and electrical subcontractor both have duties to the electrical workers. They must consult on schedules, cooperate on site access, and coordinate power isolation. Failure to coordinate is itself a breach of the Act.
Labour hire arrangements create particularly complex duty-sharing scenarios. The labour hire agency (the direct employer) must ensure the host workplace is safe before sending workers and monitor them during placement. The host employer must treat labour hire workers with the same duty of care as their own employees, including induction and supervision. Both parties must consult to prevent gaps in protection.
Emerging Obligations and Contemporary Risks
The PCBU duty extends to psychological health as well as physical safety. Recent regulatory amendments in NSW, WA, Queensland, and the Commonwealth explicitly require PCBUs to manage psychosocial hazards using the same risk management framework applied to physical risks. This means proactively identifying factors that harm mental health—excessive job demands, bullying, harassment, traumatic events—and implementing controls to eliminate or minimise them.
The PCBU duty also extends to any location where a worker goes while at work, including home offices. While a PCBU can't exercise the same control over a private residence as a factory, they must still do what is reasonably practicable: providing ergonomic assessments, checking electrical safety, ensuring proper work systems, and supporting mental health.
Enforcement and Penalties in 2025
The consequences of failing PCBU duties have intensified dramatically. WHS offences are tiered by culpability. Category 1 offences—reckless conduct exposing individuals to risk of death or serious injury—carry maximum penalties around $16.6 million for corporations and $3.3 million or five years imprisonment for individuals. Category 2 offences—failing to comply with duties where serious risk exists—carry penalties around $2.3 million for corporations. Even Category 3 administrative failures can result in fines exceeding $700,000.
Industrial manslaughter laws now operate in nearly all Australian jurisdictions. Queensland and Victoria pioneered this legislation, with penalties up to $19 million and 20-25 years imprisonment. The Commonwealth introduced its regime on 1 July 2024 with penalties up to $18 million and 25 years jail. Tasmania became the final jurisdiction to enact laws in October 2024. These offences target conduct where negligence or recklessness causes a worker's death, applying to both corporate entities and individual Officers.
Regulators can also accept Enforceable Undertakings as an alternative to prosecution for lower-tier offences. These legally binding agreements require the PCBU to commit to specific safety improvements often costing significantly more than potential fines, in exchange for charges being dropped.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a PCBU delegate their safety duties to a contractor or consultant?
No. The primary duty of care is non-delegable. While a PCBU can employ safety professionals to develop procedures, conduct audits, or manage day-to-day safety operations, the legal responsibility remains with the PCBU. If the consultant fails or the system proves inadequate, the PCBU is liable. You cannot contract out of WHS obligations.
Are strata bodies and owners corporations PCBUs?
It depends. A residential-only strata body that doesn't directly employ workers is generally exempt from PCBU classification. However, a mixed-use or commercial strata body is automatically a PCBU. Any strata body that directly employs even one worker—such as a building manager or caretaker—becomes a PCBU with duties to all workers, including contractors they engage.
What's the difference between a volunteer association and a volunteer organisation?
A volunteer association is a group of volunteers with no paid employees. These are exempt from WHS Act obligations (though best practice suggests following WHS principles). A volunteer organisation employs at least one paid worker, which immediately triggers PCBU status. The organisation then owes WHS duties to all workers, including the volunteers. The employment of even a part-time administrative assistant transforms the entity's legal status.
References
- Safe Work Australia, Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Model WHS Laws
- Safe Work Australia, Interpretive Guideline: The Meaning of 'Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking', June 2015
- Safe Work Australia, Code of Practice: How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks, 2022
- WorkSafe Victoria, Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, Victorian OHS Legislation