OHS Act changes impact health services using labour hire workers

Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) has recently changed. Health services using labour hire workers should be aware of the changes to the Act, which provide additional rights and protections for labour hire workers.

The changes extend the definition of ‘employee’ to include labour hire workers placed with the host employer. This means that existing provisions of the OHS Act setting out the duties employers owe their employees will now also apply to labour hire workers. Labour hire workers must be treated the same as employees when the labour hire workers are performing work for the host employer.

In addition, there is a new duty on host employers and labour hire providers to consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other where they share duties applying to labour hire workers under the OHS Act. This amendment is intended to ensure that where duties overlap, employers and labour hire providers will cooperate with each other on how those duties are discharged.

These changes come into effect from 22 March 2022.

We recommend that health services using labour hire providers/workers undertake their own assessment to determine the impact of the changes within their organisation

For more information see Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office: OHS Update.