As a one-person business you are still a PCBU with WHS duties — but two things catch sole traders out: a safety inspector can turn up unannounced, and the state workers' comp scheme generally does not cover you for your own injuries. Here is what to know.
A WHS inspector can arrive unannounced
The inspector is from the state regulator (SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe VIC, Workplace Health and Safety QLD, WorkSafe WA, SafeWork SA), not your client or the builder. They can enter any place reasonably believed to be a workplace — with or without notice, and without your consent (with limits for the purely domestic parts of an occupied home). Triggers are a notifiable incident, a complaint (a worker, the principal contractor, a passer-by), or a targeted campaign (scaffolds, silica, falls).
On the day: ID and reason → a walk-through (fall risks, electrical, plant, dust, housekeeping, whether controls are in place) → questions and a document check (your SWMS for high-risk work, licences, training records) → and then either advice, an improvement notice (fix by a date), a prohibition notice (stop the unsafe activity immediately), or, in serious cases, a penalty or prosecution. They must give you an entry report afterwards. A lower-risk first-timer usually gets advice and a fix-it notice rather than a fine — so engage, have your SWMS ready, and fix what they flag.
Workers' comp generally does not cover YOU
This is the big one. Workers' compensation covers employees — and as a sole trader, in law you are the business, not its employee. So:
- You generally cannot claim standard workers' comp for your own injury.
- You generally do not need to register for workers' comp until you employ someone (even a casual labourer, an apprentice, or part-time admin) — and then you must cover them.
The repeated, costly mistake is assuming "WorkCover will cover me" — then getting hurt and discovering you were never a covered worker. If you want to get paid while you are off injured, you have to arrange your own cover: personal accident/illness insurance (often marketed as "sole-trader workers comp" but actually a private policy), income protection, and TPD/life. See Tools & Income Protection Insurance.
Building-permit inspections — a different inspector, the same lesson
Do not confuse the WHS inspector with the building surveyor or certifier who signs your work off against the approved plans. On a residential extension the mandatory stages are typically footings/slab → frame → rough-in/lock-up → (waterproofing) → final (QLD names excavation, footings, slab, frame, final). Inspections fail when the work does not match the approved plans, when you cover things up before the mandatory inspection, or when you cannot hand over the certificates at final (waterproofing, termite, smoke alarms, energy, licensed-trade sign-offs). The lesson is the same as for WHS: build to plan and code, do not conceal before inspection, and keep your paperwork. See Building Surveyors & Certifiers.
Common mistakes
- "WorkCover will cover me" — it will not, as a sole trader with no employees.
- No SWMS when the inspector calls.
- Covering up work before the building inspection.
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