Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA), responsibility for workplace health and safety doesn’t rest with one person alone. Both the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) and its officers, have distinct duties under WHS legislation.
Understanding the difference between these roles is critical, especially in small businesses where one individual may hold both responsibilities.
What Is a PCBU?
A PCBU is the legal entity that conducts the business or undertaking. This can include:
- Companies,
- Sole traders,
- Partnerships,
- Government departments, and/or
- Associations.
The PCBU holds the primary duty of care. This includes ensuring, as far as reasonably practicable:
- The health and safety of workers, contractors, and other persons affected by the work.
- The provision of safe systems of work.
- The safe use of plant, structures, and substances.
- The provision of appropriate training, instruction, supervision, and information.
- A work environment that is safe and without risks to health.
If you are engaging people to carry out work, even on a small scale, you are likely a PCBU and subject to these obligations.
What Is an Officer?
An officer is a person who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of the business. This includes company directors, business partners, board members, and, in some cases, senior managers.
Officers have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU is meeting its WHS duties.
Key differences
| Role: | Legal Duty: | Applies to: |
| PCBU | Primary duty of care to ensure health and safety | Business entities and individuals engaging workers |
| Officer | Due diligence to ensure PCBU compliance | Directors, partners, key decision-makers |
Shared Responsibility, Different Accountability
In practice, many small business owners and operators are both a PCBU and an Officer. This means they must:
- Actively manage safety risks on the ground, and
- ensure the business as a whole has the right resources, systems, and processes in place to prevent harm.
Importantly, these duties are ongoing. It is not enough to simply have a safety policy or provide a one-off induction, continued oversight, engagement, and improvement is required.
Non-Compliance Can Lead to Penalties
Both PCBUs and officers can face enforcement action for failing to meet their duties. This includes:
- Improvement Notices or Prohibition Notices issued by regulators.
- Financial penalties.
- Legal proceedings, including personal liability for Officers in serious cases.
In Western Australia, WHS offences are taken seriously, and businesses must be able to demonstrate that they are meeting their obligations both in policy and in practice.
Need Help?
At ProcessWorx, we support businesses of all sizes to understand and meet their WHS obligations.
Whether you need help setting up safe systems or verifying that they’re working correctly, we’re here to support. If you’d like to learn how ProcessWorx can assist with Human Resources or Work Health & Safety, please contact us on 08 9316 9896 or enquiries@processworx.com.au. Also watch an Introduction to ProcessWorx.
Follow ProcessWorx on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X to keep up with the latest HR and Safety news.
