Responsibility for common property is not always as clear as it seems. Work is underway, a contractor is on site, and something does not go to plan. A hazard is noticed, or an issue arises.
The immediate question is simple: who is responsible for resolving it?
In these situations, the answer is not always obvious. Your committee may have approved the work, your strata, owners corporation, or body corporate manager may assisted with arranging it, and the contractor is delivering it. Each plays a role, and responsibilities may sit with different parties depending on the nature of the work and who is involved.
When responsibilities are unclear, it is easy for people to assume someone else will step in, leaving issues unaddressed. Understanding how responsibility is allocated and carried out in practice can help your committee make clearer decisions and stay on top of safety across common property.
Work health and safety (WHS) laws set out responsibilities for managing risks on common property. In practice, this goes beyond routine maintenance and includes how safety is managed across shared areas and how risks arise day‑to‑day.
Owners corporations or bodies corporate may be considered PCBUs or have management or control of a workplace, particularly where work is carried out on common property. This can extend to how common property is managed and maintained, including pathways, car parks, stairwells, plant rooms and entry points.
Workers and other persons at the workplace also have duties under the WHS Act, including taking reasonable care of their health and safety. In practice, this often comes down to three things: who is making decisions, who is arranging the work, and who is on site when it happens.
When duties overlap, responsibility can become less clear. Understanding how these roles connect can help your committee keep safety decisions consistent across your building.
| State | Legislation |
| NSW | Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 |
| QLD | Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) |
| VIC | Occupational Health And Safety Regulations 2017 |
Everyone has a role in workplace health and safety. Find out how to meet your duties under work health and safety (WHS) laws.
When responsibility is unclear, small issues can take longer to resolve. What starts as a simple task can slow down if it is unclear who needs to act.
For owners corporations or bodies corporate, this can lead to:
When committees, managing agents and contractors are all involved, work does not always progress as expected. With overlapping responsibilities, it may not always be clear who is responsible for each part of the work.
This can also increase the likelihood of:
In many buildings, responsibility only comes into focus after something happens, such as an incident or near miss. This is usually when gaps in communication or role clarity become clear.
When responsibilities are clearer from the start, your committee is better placed to act early and reduce the chance of issues escalating.
Responsibility rarely sits with a single person. In most buildings, decisions are made in one place, work happens in another, and safety sits across both. Keeping these roles aligned helps reduce confusion and keep things moving smoothly.
When multiple parties are involved, coordinating activities and sharing information can help keep roles aligned and reduce gaps as work progresses.
In a shared scheme, responsibility for safety on common property often overlaps, as more than one person or group may be involved in planning, approving or carrying out the work. WHS laws recognise that each of these roles may carry its own responsibilities.
How these duties apply will depend on the role each party plays. Not all parties involved in arranging work will hold the same responsibilities under WHS laws.
Any attempts to contractually alter this responsibility would not be valid. However, duty holders can collaborate to avoid duplication of effort and meet all obligations.
For instance, a worker could also be an officer or an independent contractor (a PCBU).
In this case, each person must meet their duty to the required standard, retain responsibility, and consult, coordinate, and cooperate with other duty holders.
It is the duty holder's responsibility to manage risks by eliminating them as far as reasonably possible or, if not feasible, to minimise the risks. The term 'reasonably practicable' refers to doing everything within one's power to ensure safety within the workplace or common property.
Even where responsibilities overlap, each party is still expected to meet their own role, rather than rely on others to act. A common challenge is that responsibility may feel clear when work is approved, but becomes less clear once it is underway and conditions change.
When everyone is clear on their role, tasks are more likely to be followed through, and risks are managed more consistently. When they are not, it can become unclear who is meant to act, leading to delays or missed issues.
Who is making the decisions about when, where and how work is carried out, and how might those decisions affect safety?
When an issue comes up, how is it identified and shared, and does that information reach everyone who needs to know?
When several people are involved, is it clear who is responsible for each part of the work? Without that clarity, tasks can be missed or assumed to be handled by someone else.
Once work is underway, how is safety checked and reviewed over time, especially where multiple areas or contractors are involved?
Case studies from SafeWork Australia show how responsibilities are shared in real situations, particularly where multiple parties are involved in planning, organising and carrying out work.
These examples highlight how communication, coordination and oversight can influence outcomes on site.
Managing safety on common property is easier when roles are clear, and work is well coordinated. As work moves from planning to site, different people can become involved, and being clear on who is responsible at each stage helps keep safety on track.
When a few different people are involved, clear communication makes it easier to stay aligned and understand who is doing what. This can include:
When working with contractors, it helps to think about how responsibility is shared, rather than passed on. This makes it easier to stay clear on who is doing what, and supports better decision‑making as work progresses.
Thinking about how work affects people using the space can help reduce risk. This can include steps such as:
Having clarity on who is responsible for different aspects of safety can help committees avoid overlooked issues.
Safety responsibilities on common property do not end once work is approved. As work moves forward, ongoing attention is needed. This can include steps such as:
When WHS responsibilities are shared, clarity can fade over time, especially when several people are involved at different stages.
Keeping responsibilities visible, rather than assumed, helps your committee stay connected to what is happening on site.
Addressing concerns early helps prevent issues from building, especially where several people are involved in the work.
When issues are raised, taking the time to follow them up can help keep responsibility clear as work progresses or is handed off to others.
When approving works, maintenance or changes to common property, it helps to step back and consider who may be affected and whether responsibility will stay clear as the work progresses.
As buildings change over time, taking time to revisit who is responsible for what helps keep responsibilities clear as those changes occur.
Recognising that safety is influenced by decisions made at different stages helps your committee take a more practical and balanced approach to managing risks on common property.
Further guidance on the risk management process and the hierarchy of control measures is available on the SafeWork Australia website.
Understanding how responsibility is shared on common property puts your committee in a stronger position to manage risks with confidence. When it is clear who is making decisions, coordinating work and managing safety on site, it becomes easier to keep things aligned.
While each state has its own legislation and regulations regarding WHS duties, the underlying principles remain consistent. This article provides general information only and does not alter the responsibilities set out in your management agreement or applicable legislation.
SafeWork Australia provides national guidance, resources, and tools that can assist committees in understanding how WHS responsibilities may apply in practice. For the latest general WHS updates, guidance, and recommendations, please visit the official Safe Work website at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Our Community Health & Safety service is here to help support schemes with practical ways to manage these risks while meeting regulatory obligations. Through our resource library, online reporting system, and centralised repository, we are here to help support you in managing your health and safety obligations.
Whether you would like to report a current hazard or flag a near-miss incident, please use this report form to help manage health and safety risks on your common property.
Get an updated committee report of hazards, incidents, and work orders to help track and manage risks on common property.
Contact your strata, body corporate, or owners corporation manager for an up-to-date copy today.
Get an annual site inspection walkthrough of your common property to help spot new hazards and risks that arise over time. Contact your strata, body corporate, or owners corporation manager to organise an annual safety report for your property at a fee.
This guide is created by PICA Services Pty Ltd ABN 70 651 941 114 (PICA Group). Community Health & Safety is a part of the PICA Group. Usage of Community Health & Safety services may be subject to charges. We advise you to fully understand the terms of service or agency agreement and any potential fees associated before utilising this service. While PICA Group has taken every reasonable care in compiling the information in this flyer, we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience only. PICA Group does not endorse or accept any responsibility for these websites’ content, use, or availability. PICA Group accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused by the use of or reliance on the information contained in this flyer or any links or third-party websites.
This guide has been adapted and derived from Safe Work Australia materials in May 2026 under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), as listed below. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. (SafeWork Australia). © Commonwealth of Australia.
