How Do You Safeguard Your Workforce

Asking how do you safeguard your workforce usually produces answers about employees. In many organisations a substantial part of the workforce is not on the payroll, and that group sits outside almost every system built to protect people.

Contractors, labour hire workers, franchisee staff, volunteers and workers further down a supply chain are frequently absent from the HR platform. They are not assigned training, not covered by reporting routes, not included in completion reporting, and least able to raise a concern without consequence.

Work health and safety duties are generally owed to workers in the broad sense, not only to employees, so the obligation does not follow the payroll.

Practically, that means one worker register covering everyone on site, induction and reporting routes available to all of them, and asking suppliers what their own people can report and to whom.

Safe Work Australia covers duties to all workers. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s modern slavery course and workplace compliance system.