Safety responsibilities cannot be outsourced

Outsourcing work to sub-contractors does not mean a company is absolved of its workplace health and safety obligations. Ensuring safety standards are in place and maintained is an essential part of running any business, particularly in relation to contractors on its premises or working elsewhere on its behalf.

WorkSafe Victoria Executive Director, John Merritt, said some people may have the wrong impression that they’re not responsible for people who are not employees: Victoria’s health and safety legislation requires employers to look after the safety of employees and people other than employees where they are affected by a business or its operations. This covers contractors, labour hire workers, people on Section 457 visas and members of the public. Safety responsibilities cannot be outsourced.

“Organisations seeking outside help should consult on their needs with contractors or labour providers and ensure they are capable of providing what is required as far as safety is concerned.

“Put simply, the employers of outsourced workers need to ensure the people they are placing have the right skills and training for the job and that the place they are working at has appropriate health and safety systems in place.

“Host employers must ensure people working on their behalf have a plan for safe work to be carried out, safe equipment if they’re providing it or that the contractor’s [equipment] is as safe as practicable as well as the skills and supervision to ensure safety practices are applied.

“In any business, having a commitment to safety is only part of the story. It has to be applied consistently across the organisation and down through the people working for it and their contractors.”

A recent prosecution in Victoria highlights the duty of care that companies have to their contractors. The Wellington Shire in East Gippsland was prosecuted by WorkSafe in the County Court for failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.

Wellington Shire pleaded not guilty, but a jury found the council had breached Section 21(1) & (2)(a) of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2004. That section requires employers, so far as is reasonably practicable, to provide and maintain a working environment, plant or systems of work that are safe and without risks to health so far as is reasonably practicable.

WorkSafe investigated the shire’s contractor-commissioning procedures after a 2005 incident in which a grader driver, employed by a contractor, died after crashing his machine while doing roadworks.

The grader driver’s employer, H & H Contracting, was prosecuted by WorkSafe in 2007 when it pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace. WorkSafe’s investigation found a number of serious mechanical faults with the company’s grader.

WorkSafe’s investigation of that incident found that although the shire had procedures in place for managing contractors, they had not been applied in this case.

The court was told a council officer contracted H&H Contracting, an approved contractor, to grade a narrow and windy 3 km section of road that had steep drop-offs and overhanging tree limbs, as well as other vehicles travelling along it.

WorkSafe’s investigation found:

• the shire’s systems were inadequate;
• the shire did not ask for, nor was it given, a risk assessment for the proposed work;
• the shire failed to carry out or seek a job safety analysis, hazard identification or risk assessment on the use or safe use of the grader;
• the shire did not assess or seek information about the condition of the grader or assess whether it or any other risks associated with the work had been considered and addressed by H&H.

When the matter came to the attention of WorkSafe, the grader was found to be in a poor mechanical condition and several areas showed signs of poor maintenance.

The shire was placed on a two-year health and safety undertaking — similar to a good behaviour bond — and ordered to conduct a safety audit six months after the case and another safety audit 18 months afterwards.

To assist companies better understand their safety responsibilities with regard to contractors, WorkSafe has produced a number of publications including Information on engaging a contractor and duties of contractors, which can be downloaded from www.worksafe.vic.gov.au.