Health and Safety Reform Bill - Update

The Health and Safety Reform Bill was recently revised to keep voluntary organisations’ health and safety responsibilities largely as they are under the current health and safety legislation. Below is a recap on the key points. 

Does your club have paid workers?

• If the answer is yes, your club will be a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (or PCBU) under the Bill. A PCBU has the primary duty to ensure the health and safety of its workers and others, so far as is reasonably practicable.
• If the answer is no, you’re a volunteer association under the Bill. A volunteer association is not a PCBU so the Bill will not apply to it.

If your organisation is a PCBU, does it have volunteer workers or other volunteers?

People who regularly volunteer their time for a PCBU on an ongoing basis and are integral to the PCBU’s operations are classed as ‘volunteer workers’ under the Bill. These volunteers should be given the same health and safety protections as any other worker (see here).

For other volunteers: one-off or occasional volunteers and for volunteers doing certain activities they are not ‘volunteer workers’. This includes volunteers assisting with sports or recreation for a sports club. These volunteers should be given the same protections from the activities of the PCBU just like other members of the public.

Keeping people safe

At the end of the day, the main point is that everyone – casual volunteers helping out the interclub event on a Tuesday, regular volunteers running the junior development programme, or paid workers managing the squad teams are all kept healthy and safe.

The difference in the steps your club takes to protect its people should come down to the risks they face in the activities they are doing.

When it comes to keeping people healthy and safe, it is best to think not ‘do I have a duty to this person’ but ‘what can I reasonably do to keep them safe?’

What are the next steps for the Health and Safety Reform Bill?

The Health and Safety Reform Bill is now going through its remaining debates at Parliament before it becomes law. WorkSafe will help people to prepare by providing more detailed information before the law comes into force.