A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) is the term given to a person conducting a business or undertaking, alone or with others, whether for not for profit or gain.
A PCBU can be:
- a sole trader (e.g. a self-employed person)
- each partner within a partnership
- a company
- an unincorporated association
- a government department of a public authority (including a municipal council).
You are not considered a PCBU if you are:
- an elected member of a municipal council acting in that capacity
- a volunteer association that does not employ anyone. If the volunteer association becomes an employer, it then becomes a PCBU for purposes of the WHS Act.
- a strata title body corporate that does not employ anyone, in relation to any common areas used only for residential purposes.
PCBU duties
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WHS Act) and regulations that came into effect in March 2022, all PCBUs have a primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of their workers while they are at work. In this context, workers are people engaged by the PCBU and whose activities in carrying out the work are influenced or directed by the PCBU.
This primary duty of care requires PCBUs so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure health and safety for its workers by eliminating risks to health and safety. If this is not reasonably practicable, risks must be minimised.
Under the primary duty of care as a PCBU, you must provide and maintain:
- a working environment that is safe with minimal risk to health and safety. This includes safe access to and exit from the workplace
- plant, structure and systems of work that are safe and do not pose health risks (e.g. providing effective guarding on machines and regulating the pace and frequency of work)
- the safe use, handling, storage and transport of plant, structure and substances (e.g. toxic chemicals, dusts and fibres)
- adequate facilities for the welfare of workers at work (e.g. access to washrooms, lockers and dining areas)
- information, instruction, training and supervision to workers needed for them to work without risks to their health and safety and that of others around them
- the health of workers and the conditions of the workplace are monitored to prevent injury or illness arising out of the conduct of the PCBU
- any accommodation owned or under their management and control to ensure the health and safety of workers occupying the premises.
Further duties
The WHS Act imposes further duties on certain PCBUs who are in control of workplaces or who are 'upstream' duty holders, such as designers, manufacturers and importers of plants and substances.
The meaning of 'person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU): Interpretive guideline
This interpretive guideline sets out who may be a PCBU under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020.
PCBU responsibilities: Information sheet available in other languages
This information sheet summarises the responsibility of a PCBU under the WHS Act.