Who must comply with PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19)?
The applicability test for PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19) (Comcare), computed across 35 industries, 9 business structures and 6 size bands.
Short answer: Only if
Applies only if you are a Comcare self-insured licensee or a Commonwealth entity (Comcare scheme). Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.
What the obligation is
Commonwealth entities and Comcare self-insured licensees must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the health and safety of workers and others.
The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), administered by Comcare, applies the model-law primary duty (s 19) to the Commonwealth, Commonwealth public authorities and non-Commonwealth corporations licensed to self-insure under the Comcare scheme. Private businesses outside the Comcare scheme are covered by their state or territory WHS law instead. Officers must exercise due diligence (s 27), and public authorities and non-corporate Commonwealth entities must include WHS information in their annual reports.
The applicability test
Applies only if you are a Comcare self-insured licensee or a Commonwealth entity (Comcare scheme). Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.
How the regulator frames it: The Commonwealth, Commonwealth public authorities and Comcare self-insured licensees (and their officers and workers).
What triggers it: Being a Comcare-scheme employer.
Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.
Which industries are in or out
Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (35 of 35: only if a further fact applies).
The answer is the same in every industry: only if a further fact applies. Industry does not change who must comply.
Business structure and size
Structure does not change the answer across all industries: for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".
| Size band | Answer across all industries, any structure |
|---|---|
| No employees (turnover $100K–$1M) | No |
| 1–5 employees (turnover $100K–$1M) | No |
| 6–19 employees (turnover $1M–$3M) | No |
| 20–99 employees (turnover $3M–$10M) | No |
| 100–499 employees (turnover $10M–$100M) | No |
| 500+ employees (turnover $100M–$1B) | Only if a further fact applies |
Worked examples
Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:
- Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire.
- Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 500+ employees, turnover $100M–$1B: check whether it applies. applies only if you are a Comcare self-insured licensee or a Commonwealth entity (Comcare scheme)
When you need to check further
The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has 500+ employees. It then applies only if you are a Comcare self-insured licensee or a Commonwealth entity (Comcare scheme). That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.
What you must do, and when
- When due
- Continuous. Notify Comcare of notifiable incidents immediately; Commonwealth entities report WHS matters in each annual report.
- Frequency
- Ongoing
- Evidence to keep
- WHS risk register and controls; consultation arrangements (health and safety representatives, committees); training records; incident notifications to Comcare; officer due-diligence records; annual report WHS content (Commonwealth entities).
- Status
- Current
- Priority
- High
Penalty for not complying
Maximum penalty: Category 1 offence: up to $17,728,000 (body corporate), $3,546,000 (PCBU or officer as an individual) or $1,773,000 (other individual) for 2026-27 (WHS (Public Notification of Indexed Penalty Amounts) Notifiable Instrument 2026, Table 1). A death caused by a reckless or negligent breach is separately punishable as industrial manslaughter (see industrial-manslaughter-cth).
Criminal liability
Audit or assurance level
Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.
Obligations with the same applicability test
If this obligation applies to you, so does this one: the engine uses the same rule for each.
Where it sits in the corpus
Rules Mate tracks 28 published obligations tagged "whs", 23 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 16 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority and carries criminal liability, and is an ongoing duty.
Regulator, legislation and tools
Regulated by Comcare.
Comcare: National regulator and workers' compensation insurer for Commonwealth employers and self-insured corporations.
Model WHS Act: Model federal WHS Act adopted (with variations) in NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, ACT, NT, Commonwealth (Comcare).
Free tools that help with this obligation:
Questions
- Who must comply with PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19)?
- Applies only if you are a Comcare self-insured licensee or a Commonwealth entity (Comcare scheme). Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.
- Does PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19) apply to sole traders?
- Only if a further fact applies. Across every industry and every size band, the engine's answer for a sole trader is: only if a further fact applies.
- Does PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19) apply to businesses with 1–5 employees?
- No (1–5 employees, turnover $100K–$1M).
- When is "PCBU primary duty of care — Comcare scheme (WHS Act 2011 (Cth) s 19)" due?
- Continuous. Notify Comcare of notifiable incidents immediately; Commonwealth entities report WHS matters in each annual report.
Related
Sources
Computed by the Rules Mate applicability engine from the published obligation corpus; facts last checked 3 October 2026. Rules Mate is not a law firm and this is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your position with the regulator source or a qualified adviser before acting.