Overlapping WHS duties mapper

Choose your role and the other businesses on site, such as a principal contractor, subcontractors and labour hire, to see the WHS duty each one owes and how the duties overlap.

Figures checked 5 November 2026. Free to use, no sign-in.

Victoria and Western Australia have their own Acts; the tool switches to them.

Who else is involved

Other parties at the same workplace

Who owes what

Duty holders on this site

3 businesses owe the duty at once

None of them can contract out of it or pass it to another.

You

  • Host business (engages contractors or labour hire)

    Primary duty (s 19) to your own workers and to contractors and labour hire workers whose work you influence or direct, plus anyone else affected. If you manage or control the workplace, also the s 20 duty for the workplace, its entry and exit.

    What to agree with the others: Share site hazards and rules, induct everyone, agree who controls what, and check contractors’ SWMS and competencies.

The other parties

  • Contractor or subcontractor business

    Primary duty (s 19) to your own workers and anyone affected by your work, for the risks you can influence and control. Being lower in the contracting chain doesn’t reduce it.

  • Labour hire provider

    Primary duty (s 19(1)(a)) to the workers you place, even though the host directs their work. Check the host’s site, tasks, training and supervision before and during the placement.

The rules that make duties overlap

  • You can’t transfer a duty

    A duty can’t be transferred to another person (s 14), and a contract term that tries to exclude, limit or transfer a duty is void (s 272 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)).

  • Duties overlap, they don’t divide

    More than one person can have the same duty at the same time. Each must meet it in full, to the extent of their capacity to influence and control the matter, even if another duty holder also has it (s 16).

  • Consult, cooperate and coordinate

    Every duty holder with a duty for the same matter must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate with the others (s 46).

  • Each business keeps its whole duty. Agreeing who does what is how you coordinate, not how you hand a duty over.

General information, not legal advice.

How this works

Under the WHS Act more than one business can hold the same duty at once (s 16). Each keeps responsibility and must meet the duty to the extent it can influence and control the matter, including control it would have had but for an agreement that tries to limit it. The tool lists each party’s duty and the s 14, 16, 46 and 272 rules that govern the overlap.

Principal contractors on a construction project (construction work of $250,000 or more; $350,000 in Victoria) have extra duties under the regulations. Victoria is handled under ss 21, 23 and 26 of the OHS Act 2004.

Legal basis

Checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Tell us.

Questions

Can a contract make the contractor responsible for all safety?

No. A WHS duty can’t be transferred (s 14) and a contract term that tries to exclude, limit or transfer a duty is void (s 272). A contract can allocate tasks, but each business keeps its own duty.

Who is responsible for a labour hire worker’s safety?

Both. The labour hire provider owes the primary duty to the workers it engages, and the host owes it to the workers whose work it directs. Each must meet the duty to the extent it can influence and control the matter, and they must consult and coordinate with each other.

What does consult, cooperate and coordinate mean in practice?

Sharing what each business knows about the risks, agreeing who will put which controls in place, and checking those controls are working, so that nothing is missed between the businesses (s 46).

Is it different in Victoria?

Victoria’s OHS Act extends an employer’s duty to independent contractors and their employees for matters the employer controls, or would control but for an agreement limiting that control (s 21(3)). It has no general provision voiding contracting out like s 272, but the duty still can’t be removed by agreement.

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