Definition
Work Health and Safety (WHS) is the Australian regulatory framework governing safe workplaces, replacing the older OHS terminology in most jurisdictions. Under the WHS Act 2011, both the cleaning vendor and the client (as PCBU — Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) carry duty-of-care obligations.
Why it matters for procurement
WHS liability is shared. Engaging an unsafe cleaning contractor doesn't transfer the risk — it doubles it. Regulators have prosecuted clients for contractor incidents where reasonable due diligence was not exercised.
How White Gold Collective applies it
We provide WHS evidence packs at onboarding: insurance certificates, SWMS per task class, training records, incident register, sub-contractor verification. Updated annually as part of governance.
Audit your current vendor against this standard
Our Free Site Audit assesses your existing cleaning programme against WHS and 20+ other compliance benchmarks — written report within 48 hours.
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