What is a PCBU?

PCBU stands for person conducting business or undertaking. The PCBU is normally the business owner or company, but can also be government departments, NGOs or volunteer associations. A PCBU may be a person, or an entity. For example, a proprietary limited (Pty Ltd) company is generally considered a PCBU.

In previous legislation, the term "employer" was used. In the new harmonized WHS legislation, "employer" was replaced with "PCBU". Although very similar, PCBU is a broader term that includes relationships that may not be as simple as employer / employee.

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) on site — illustrating the primary duty of care owed to workers and others under the model WHS Act.

For example, a company that engages labour-hire workers, volunteers or subcontractors will likely not be considered the worker's "employer". If the legislation stated that the "employer" was responsible for the safety of workers, this would leave a legislative loophole where these companies were not explicitly responsible for the worker's safety. You can see the problem, right?

The term "employee" was replaced with "worker" for similar reasons. Worker is a broader term that covers more relationships.

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) on site — illustrating the primary duty of care owed to workers and others under the model WHS Act.

PCBU and Workers Examples

Examples of workers:

• Employees

• Labour hire workers

• Work experience trainees

• Volunteers

• Subcontractors

Examples of PCBUs:

• The owner of a business

• A not-for-profit organisation

• The people who own a partnership

• A self-employed person

• A corporation (e.g. McDonalds or Coca-Cola) – these organisations gain the legal status as a "person" once they become a company

• A government department (e.g. Education Queensland)

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) on site — illustrating the primary duty of care owed to workers and others under the model WHS Act.

What is a PCBU in the Legislation?

For what its worth, we'll paste the legal definition of a PCBU here (from the WHS Act):

Meaning of person conducting a business or undertaking:

• For the purposes of this Act, a person conducts a business or undertaking:

  • whether the person conducts the business or undertaking alone or with others, and

  • whether or not the business or undertaking is conducted for profit or gain.

• A business or undertaking conducted by a person includes a business or undertaking conducted by a partnership or an unincorporated association.

• If a business or undertaking is conducted by a partnership (other than an incorporated partnership), a reference in this Act to a person conducting the business or undertaking is to be read as a reference to each partner in the partnership.

• A person does not conduct a business or undertaking to the extent that the person is engaged solely as a worker in, or as an officer of, that business or undertaking.

• An elected member of a local authority does not in that capacity conduct a business or undertaking.

• The regulations may specify the circumstances in which a person may be taken not to be a person who conducts a business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act or any provision of this Act.

• A volunteer association does not conduct a business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act.

• In this section, volunteer association means a group of volunteers working together for 1 or more community purposes where none of the volunteers, whether alone or jointly with any other volunteers, employs any person to carry out work for the volunteer association.

If you struggle to understand that legal mumbo jumbo, that's ok!

What is NOT a PCBU?

A person is not considered PCBU if that person is solely a worker completing work – unless that person is a sole-proprietor.

For example, the manager, the supervisor and all the workers on a construction site are not considered PCBUs. However, the person who owns the construction company IS a PCBU.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Queensland, Australia, had its first industrial manslaughter sentence in 2020? In a landmark case, the defedant was prosecuted as a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) for the death of a worker at their auto recycling yard. The company was fined $3 million, and its directors were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment (suspended) for reckless conduct.

This case highlighted the critical importance of workplace safety and the severe consequences of neglecting health and safety duties. It set a precedent for how PCBUs are held accountable under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (QLD), emphasising the need for robust safety systems and procedures in the workplace.

The Overlapping Duties of Multiple PCBUs

In many workplaces, there isn't just one PCBU. Multiple PCBUs can share duties when they are involved in the same work activity or are at the same workplace. For example, a principal contractor, subcontractors, and even labour-hire companies operating on a construction site will all have PCBU duties that overlap.

When this occurs, each PCBU retains their primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of their workers and others. However, they also have a duty to consult, cooperate, and coordinate activities with all other PCBUs involved to ensure that risks are managed effectively. This means actively communicating about hazards, control measures, and emergency procedures to avoid gaps in safety management or conflicting instructions.

The law does not allow PCBUs to contract out of their responsibilities. Even if one PCBU takes the lead on a particular safety measure, other PCBUs still hold responsibility to ensure that safety obligations are met and workers are protected. Effective collaboration is key to preventing incidents in complex work environments with shared duties.