No matter the number of precautions we take, accidents are bound to happen from time to time. Such is the nature of running a business. Most accidents in a business will involve workers – they could get injured while on the job, cause damage to work equipment, or accidentally cause injury to co-workers or members of the public.
Compensations for this kind of accidents are often quite costly and could put a major dent in a business’ finances. That is why it is prudent to get insurance cover for your employees to mitigate the effects of this kind of occurrence. Some types of insurance covers are also compulsory (by law) to have for workers working for your business.
So who is responsible for worker insurance in a labour hire arrangement?
Insurance obligations for a labour hire company
When your business uses on-hired labour for its operations, your labour hire company effectively assumes the role of the employer. They’re thus tasked with the duty of finding the workers you need and screening them before sending them to you.
Even though the workers will be working in your organisation, taking instructions from you, reporting to your supervisors and managers, and sometimes even putting on your uniform; they are not really your employees. These workers still remain the employees of the labour hire company that has provided them to you. Payments will also be made to the agency instead of directly to the workers – the agency, in turn, pays the workers.
As a result, it is the labour hire company’s obligation (unless stated otherwise for your particular arrangement) to provide insurance cover for the workers they provide. The cost of the insurance cover is usually included in the fee you pay the recruitment agency for the worker.
Insurance covers provided by a labour hire company
There’re two insurance covers commonly provided by labour hire firms to all their employees. These are:
- Workers compensation insurance. According to the law, all employers in Australia (including labour hire firms) are mandated to provide this insurance cover to their employees. Worker compensation insurance protects the employer against costly compensation claims by workers as a result of workplace accidents that result in injury or illnesses.
- Public liability insurance. This cover protects an employer against the financial risk that would result if a worker is found liable for negligence. It covers damage to a client’s property as well as injuries caused to co-workers or customers by the on-hired staff.
These insurances are provided by labour hire companies to ensure that both the client and worker are covered in case of an accident.
But other than the financial cost of compensations, accidents can have more far-reaching implications for both the victims and the businesses such as permanent injuries and damaged reputations respectively. That is why we at Blue Collar People strive to minimise the chances of accidents occurring by:
- Carefully screening candidates. We screen our workers thoroughly to ensure they are competent enough and have the legal permits to carry out a job effectively and safely.
- Providing proper equipment. When an arrangement with a client requires us to provide safety equipment to our workers, we ensure that our workers are provided with all the gear they need to ensure their safety on the job.
- We ensure that our workers are adequately trained on how to do their job safely without jeopardising their safety and that of others.
Ask us how we can help you? Please call us on 92211911
