Victoria has passed legislation to licence the labour hire industry. Occupational health and safety (OHS) gets a mention, in some ways.
The objects of this Act seem fairly straightforward:
- ” to protect workers from being exploited by providers of labour hire services and hosts; and
- to improve the transparency”
The explanatory memorandum sounds promising. Clause 23 says:
“Subclause (1) states that if an application for a licence or renewal of a licence is made by an applicant who, at the time of making the application, is conducting a business that provides labour hire
services, the applicant must include with the application a declaration that, to the applicant’s knowledge, the applicant complies with the various laws that are set out so far as they relate to the business to which the licence relates. Examples of
such laws include workplace, taxation and occupational health and safety laws.”
The good news is that OHS is stated as an example of the type of information required in a licence application.