UC staff and students conduct work, study, research, and other activities where other organisations are managing the site and managing related risks. UC has a duty to work with those organisations to manage risks to UC staff and students, and to manage risks created by UC staff and student activities to other workers and people.
The University has a duty of care to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable:
- The health and safety of people that are influenced or directed by the University
- The health and safety of other persons are not put at risk by the work undertaken by the University
Where more than one PCBU has influence or control over a space, an event, equipment, or a process, the duties are considered to overlap. All PCBUs have a responsibility to meet duties to the extent that they have the ability to influence or control matters. This includes what ought to be reasonably known about any risk, and how that risk should be controlled.
Process for managing overlapping duties
- Prequalify the other organisations health and safety management systems. The prequalification should establish the level of health and safety maturity of other organisations management systems to inform the approval of the related risk for overlapping duties.
- This prequalification form can be used with the fieldwork planning module in Assura
- The WIL process in UC placements is being updated to include a prequalification process
- Use an appropriate method to plan the activity with overlapping health and safety duties. This should include identification of risks, roles and responsibilities and ownership of management. Methods for activity planning include:
- Fieldwork protocol and Assura fieldwork module
- Work integrated learning guideline
- Hazard identification – using a risk register
