Broader concepts

18.5 The Model Work Health and Safety Act (Model Act) developed by Safe Work Australia, and the Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 (Cth), move away from the use of ‘employer’ to a more inclusive view of the primary duty holder, using the term ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBU).^[1] However, the term PCBU is not yet used in Commonwealth legislation. Due to the implications of such an expanded definition, and to make the traditional distinction between employers and employees clear, unless referring to the duties under the Model Act, the terms ‘employer’, and occasionally ‘duty holder’ when referring specifically to a duty of care, are used in this chapter.

18.6 Similarly, the terms‘employee’ and ‘worker’ are used interchangeably throughout the chapter. Employee is generally used when discussing the distinction between employees and employers as classes of people, and ‘worker’ for the purposes of the Model Act, recognising that it adopts a broad definition of ‘worker’ instead of ‘employee’, due in part to the changing nature of work relationships.^[2]

18.7 This chapter uses the term ‘workplace’ when referring to the place where work is carried out. Under the Model Act and Work Health and Safety Bill, the duty of care is tied to work activities and there is no place of work restriction. Workplace is defined broadly to include any place where work is carried out or where a worker goes, or is likely to be, while at work.^[3]