TEST - Work Health and Safety in Strata

The WorkSafe Commissioner’s recent response following a meeting in September 2023, where SCA WA’s Position Paper was presented, has been helpful in clarifying several points of concern.

A residential strata scheme is a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) unless it is excluded by subsection 5(8) of the Work Health and Safety Act (WHS):

1. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.
   1. “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.
      1. the company does not employ any persons”.
         1. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.
            1. the company does not employ any persons”.
2. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.
3. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.

A change in use, such as an application to change the use of a residential apartment to short-stay may remove the residential exclusion. Further, individual owners who operate a business from home may be considered a PCBU, and by default, if visitors or customers of the home business traverse the common property, then by default, the strata scheme has the potential to lose its exclusion.

a. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.

b. if the “common areas are used exclusively for residential purposes and the company does not employ any persons”.