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Frequently Asked Questions - WHS Laws regarding Volunteers
1. Who is a volunteer?
You are a volunteer under the model WHS laws if you are not working for payment or reward (although you may receive payment for out-of-pocket expenses).
2. As a volunteer, do I need to comply with the model WHS Act?
People who are ‘workers' have duties under the WHS Act. As a volunteer worker, you only have duties if you carry out work for a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU). If so, you have the same duties as ‘workers' to take reasonable care for health and safety.
3. As a volunteer, am I owed duties under the model WHS Act?
Some volunteers may carry out unpaid work for companies or businesses. Others may carry out work for volunteer organisations that are run by volunteers for community purposes. You are owed health and safety duty under the model WHS Act if you carry out work for a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU).
4. Do the model WHS laws apply to my volunteer organisation?
A volunteer organisation owes duties to its volunteers under the WHS Act, where it:
1. conducts a ‘business or undertaking' (whether for profit or not), and
2. is not a ‘volunteer association' as defined by the WHS Act.
5. What is a ‘volunteer association'?
A volunteer association is a group of volunteers, working together for one or more community purposes, that has no employees. It may be an incorporated or unincorporated association. A volunteer association is not regarded as a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU). For more information on PCBUs see, Safe Work Australia's Interpretive Guideline, ‘Model Work Health and Safety Act, The Meaning of ‘Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking'.
6. When is a volunteer organisation a PCBU?
A volunteer organisation that employs someone to carry out work meets the definition of a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU).
7. When does your volunteer organisation owe duties under the model WHS Act?
A volunteer organisation that conducts a business or undertaking owes duties to:
a. workers and others (including volunteers) who are engaged, or caused to be engaged by the organisation, and
b. workers (including volunteers) whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the organisation
The volunteer organisation owes duties to the above workers while these workers are ‘at work' in the business or undertaking.
8. What does a PCBU volunteer organisation need to do to comply with the model WHS Act?
A volunteer organisation that is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) has duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable:
a. the health and safety of all workers, including volunteers, while they are at work for the PCBU,
b. that they consult with all workers, including volunteers, on work health and safety matters, and
c. that they provide the necessary information, training and supervision to all workers, including volunteers.
9. Can a volunteer be an ‘officer'?
Yes, a volunteer can be an ‘officer'. If you are an officer of a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) and you are a volunteer, you must comply with your due diligence duties as an officer.
10. As a volunteer, can I be prosecuted under the model WHS Act?
Volunteers who carry out work for ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBUs) are required to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and not to create risks to others. Like any other duty holders who do not comply with their duties under the WHS Act, workers, including volunteer workers, can be prosecuted for failing to comply with their duties.
11. If I am a volunteer officer, can I be prosecuted under the model WHS Act?
No. A volunteer officer cannot be prosecuted for failing to comply with their officer duties under the WHS Act. This immunity from prosecution is designed to ensure that voluntary participation at the officer level is not discouraged. A volunteer officer can however, be prosecuted in their capacity as a worker if they fail to meet their duties as a worker.
12. Where can I get more information about the model WHS Act?
More information about the model WHS Act can be obtained from Volunteering Australia, your State, Territory or Commonwealth health and safety regulator and Safe Work Australia at http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/Legislation/ModelWHSAct/Pages/ModelWHSAct.aspx
The home as a workplace
13. Does a private home become the site of the volunteer organisation when its volunteers are working there?
No. The model WHS Act provides that a ‘workplace' is a place where a worker carries out work for a business or undertaking. This includes any place where the worker (including a volunteer) goes, or is likely to be while at work. This may include a private home where a volunteer carries out work. This could mean the private home is the volunteer's workplace for the purposes of the work they carry out there.
14. When a volunteer visits a private home, is it a ‘workplace'?
A private home may, in some circumstances, be a workplace, but only where the volunteer worker is carrying out work there for a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU). Work in this context does not include activities of a purely domestic, recreational or social nature.
15. When an organisation has volunteers who are required to visit different properties, is the volunteer organisation required to check all the properties to ensure they meet work health and safety requirements?
No. If a private home is a workplace under the model WHS Act, a volunteer organisation that is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) has duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its volunteer workers while they are at work there. To comply with its duties a volunteer organisation may conduct a risk assessment, gather information about the home and identify any hazards or risks volunteers may face at the home. Information about a home might be gathered from the home owner or occupant (by questionnaire for example) and from volunteers themselves.
16. When volunteers are visiting private homes to work, are two volunteers required to attend?
No. There is no requirement for two volunteers to attend private homes. Whether this is advisable will depend on the nature and risks of the particular home environment the volunteer is going to carry out work in.
17. Can volunteers under the age of 18 visit private homes?
Yes. There is no reason why volunteers under the age of 18 cannot visit private homes. A volunteer organisation that is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) should however, take steps to identify and address any additional or particular risks which young workers may face.
18. What are the work health and safety risks that volunteers face?
Like other workers, volunteers face a wide range of possible health and safety risks. These might be associated with travel to remote locations, the use and condition of work equipment or machinery and general hazards in the work environment.
Travel and transport
19. Can a volunteer use their own private car to transport clients?
Yes. A volunteer organisation that is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU) must ensure however, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of its clients, (in addition to its staff and volunteers), is not put at risk from the work carried out as part of the organisation's business activities. Therefore, the organisation should take steps to ensure that it is satisfied that:
a. volunteers are licensed and properly skilled for the type of driving and conditions in which they are required to drive, and
b. their vehicles are roadworthy, registered and properly maintained.
It may also be useful to inquire with the volunteers themselves whether they have any illnesses or take any medication which may affect their ability to operate a vehicle.
20. Do volunteer organisations need to know where there volunteers are going in advance?
Where volunteers are at work for a volunteer organisation that is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU), the PCBU has a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, their health and safety. While there is no mandatory requirement for PCBUs to know where their volunteers are in advance, it is good practice. Knowing where volunteers are, means the PCBU can identify any hazards and risks associated with the environment and prepare volunteers accordingly.
Facilities and personal protective equipment
21. What sort of facilities do volunteer organisations need to provide for their volunteers?
Volunteer organisations that are ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBUs) need to provide and maintain adequate and accessible facilities for their volunteers, where it is reasonably practicable to do so. This includes things like toilets, drinking water, washing and eating facilities. Whether it is reasonably practicable to provide such facilities in any given circumstances will depend on things like the permanency and location of the workplace and the workforce. For example, in remote areas where volunteers are working temporarily, it may be reasonable for a PCBU to identify the nearest facilities and inform volunteers of their location.
22. Do volunteer organisations need to supply PPE to their volunteers?
Yes. If personal protective equipment (PPE) is being used to minimise health and safety risks, volunteer organisations that are ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBUs) must provide PPE to volunteers unless it has been provided by another PCBU. In many circumstances, volunteers may be encouraged or required to wear their own appropriate attire and footwear and be provided with PPE such as gloves and eye and ear protection.
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