Governance
The Council's Health & Safety Organisational Structure
View our Organisational Structure [PDF, 35 KB]
The Council's Health & Safety Working Framework
View our Working Framework Model [PDF, 289 KB] and Organisational Context
A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU)
PCBU is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’. While a PCBU may be an individual person or an organisation, in most cases the PCBU will be an organisation (e.g. a business entity such as a company). The Council is a PCBU.
An individual, such as a sole trader, can also be a PCBU.
While the terms ‘business’ and ‘undertaking’ are not defined in the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), the usual meanings of these terms are:
- business - an activity carried out with the intention of making a profit or gain
- undertaking - an activity that is non-commercial in nature (e.g. certain activities of a local authority).
Exclusion as a PCBU
The following are not PCBUs:
- volunteer associations (see volunteer association definition)
- home occupiers who employ or engage someone to do work around the home
- persons to the extent they are solely a worker or an officer in the business or undertaking
- statutory officers to the extent they are officers or workers in the business or undertaking
Officer as Defined in the HSWA
An officer is a person who holds a very senior leadership position and has the ability to significantly influence the management of a PCBU. Organisations can have more than one officer.
Officers are:
- company directors (even if they do not have ‘director’ in the title)
- any partner in a partnership (other than a limited partnership)
- any general partner in a limited partnership
- any person who holds a position comparable to a director in a body corporate or an unincorporated body
- any person who exercises significant influence over the management of the business or undertaking (eg the Chief Executive).
Every officer has a duty, it is not a joint duty. Officers have a duty because they make policy and investment decisions that can affect workers’ health and safety. People in senior leadership positions have an important role in leading health and safety culture throughout a PCBU.
Exclusion as an Officer
People who provide health and safety or other advice, or make recommendations to senior leadership are not officers solely on this basis.
Some examples of people who are not officers (unless they also fall into one of the officer categories described above) include:
- health and safety managers
- team leaders, line managers and supervisors
- workplace health and safety officers and advisors
- people that have ‘officer’ in their job title, such as Corrections Officer, Police Officer or Administration Officer.