September 2021 changes to the OHS Act
In changes which will come into effect on 22 March 2022, the OHS Act has been amended to address a gap in protection for labour hire workers. The definitions of “employer” and “employee” will be extended to ensure labour hire workers are considered both an employee of the host employer and the labour hire agency.
From 22 March 2022 labour hire agencies and host employers must consult, coordinate and cooperate with each other, so far as is reasonably practicable, where they share OHS duties to labour hire workers.
Casual Work OHS Survey:
VTHC has produced a short OHS survey for casual workers. HSRs may use and distribute this form for workplaces with a large amount of casual workers to gain a better understanding of the OHS difficulties experienced by casual workers.
From WorkSafe Victoria:
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Templates for labour hire agencies - Templates to assist labour hire agencies and group training companies meet their OHS obligations.
- Labour Hire Hosts - Information for hosts of labour hire employees
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Case studies in labour hire - examples and learnings outlines good practices being implemented in the industry and opportunities for the organisations to enhance their OHS management systems.
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Labour Hire Organisations In Victoria Public Register - the register is updated on a monthly basis.
- You can find more information suitable for Labour Hire in the Transport, Storage & Trade Info page
Senate Inquiry, 2016
In 2016, the Education and Employment References Committee of the Australian Senate held an inquiry into the exploitation of temporary work visa holders. It released its report, A National Disgrace: The exploitation of temporary work visa holders [pdf], which made a number of recommendations, including that Treasury and the ACCC review the franchising code of conduct to determine whether there may be scope to impose a degree of responsibility on franchisors for franchisees' compliance with workplace laws.
From the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE):
The UK's HSE has published:
- guidance for temporary or agency workers and
- advice for employers on Agency/temporary workers. The online guide targets employers using agency labour, but provides useful general advice to anyone interested in the issue. Subjects covered include agency workers and health and safety duties, risk assessments, consultation and cooperation, information and training, monitoring safety practices and controlling working hours. There are also some useful links.
Last amended September 2021