You're a PCBU and a worker — and you can't hand your duties to the main contractor
If you run a trade or contracting business — even on your own — you're a PCBU with full health and safety duties, and also a worker. You share overlapping duties with everyone else on a job, you can't contract out of your obligations, and increasingly you need to pass prequalification and provide an SSSP or SWMS to win work. The good news: a simple system that matches your actual work is enough.
As a self-employed contractor or sole trader, you are both a PCBU and a worker — and both sets of duties apply to you.
Under the HSWA, a business or undertaking of any size is a PCBU — that includes a one-person band. So you have duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your own workers and anyone affected by your work, and to provide safe tools, plant and substances. At the same time, when you work for a head contractor, you're treated as one of their workers. Small operators often underestimate this: being small doesn't make the duties smaller.
When several businesses work the same job, the law makes you coordinate — not assume someone else has it covered.
On a shared site or in a contracting chain, you share overlapping duties with the other PCBUs, and section 34 of the HSWA requires you to consult, cooperate and coordinate with them so far as is reasonably practicable. The crucial point: you cannot contract out of your health and safety duties or push the risk onto someone else in the chain. Each PCBU is responsible for meeting its own duties — so “the main contractor handles safety” is not a defence. Our contractor management guide covers how these duties fit together.
For a small trade business, the duties come down to a manageable handful of things.
| Duty | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Manage your own risks | Identify and control the hazards your work creates — for you, your team and others nearby. |
| Safe tools & plant | Keep your tools, plant and vehicles safe and maintained, and handle substances safely. |
| Competent workers | Make sure anyone working for you is trained and competent for the task. |
| Coordinate | Talk to the head contractor and other trades about who's doing what and when. |
| Paperwork ready | Have your SSSP or SWMS and records ready when a site asks for them. |
| Report & review | Report incidents and near-misses, and review what you do after the job. |
For many clients, no prequal means no job — so a tidy safety system is also a business asset.
Clients increasingly vet contractors before engaging them through prequalification schemes like SiteWise, PreQual and Totika — checking your safety system, records and competencies. SiteWise, for example, scores you and awards grades (Green at 75% or above, Gold at 90% or above). Passing is becoming table stakes to get onto bigger sites, so the same system that keeps your people safe also opens doors. Our prequalification guide explains the schemes and how to pass.
A small contractor doesn't need a 60-page manual — they need something that fits the actual work and gets used.
The most common trap is downloading a generic policy that doesn't match what you do. Aim instead for a simple, real system: the hazards of your trade, a task-specific SSSP or SWMS when a site needs one, basic training and tool records, and an easy way to report incidents. Done well, it's lighter than it sounds — and it's the difference between passing prequal and scrambling when a client asks for your paperwork.
SSSPs, SWMS and records ready for prequal in one place. Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
Yes. Under the HSWA, a business or undertaking of any size is a PCBU, including a self-employed sole trader. You're also classed as a worker. Both sets of duties apply — being small doesn't reduce your obligations.
You share overlapping duties, and you must consult, cooperate and coordinate with them — but you cannot contract out of your own duties or push the risk onto them. Each PCBU is responsible for meeting its own duties, so “the main contractor handles safety” is not a defence for you.
When several businesses work on the same matter or shared site, they share health and safety duties. Section 34 of the HSWA requires all of them to consult, cooperate and coordinate so far as is reasonably practicable — clarifying who does what and avoiding gaps.
Many clients now require it before engaging contractors, through schemes like SiteWise, PreQual and Totika. They check your safety system, records and competencies. Passing is increasingly necessary to win work on bigger sites, so a tidy safety system is also a business asset.
An SSSP (site-specific safety plan) and SWMS (safe work method statement) document how the work on a particular site or task will be done safely. Many sites require subcontractors to provide them before starting, so it pays to have task-specific versions ready.
