In short, no.
If you place temporary workers, you're expected to understand the risks they may be exposed to and how those risks are controlled.
That means evaluating the host's WHS before you place workers with a host for the first time, then reviewing that evaluation periodically and whenever work or conditions change.
And importantly, the person conducting that evaluation needs to be capable of identifying workplace hazards and assessing risk.
The courts have repeatedly criticised labour hire providers where host evaluations were completed by people who lacked the training, experience or tools needed to recognise obvious risks.
Three Cases. Same Message.
Momentum Consulting Group (NSW, 2025)
A senior account manager completed the host evaluation. The court found the evaluator had not received adequate training and failed to identify that workers would be using motorised pallet riders.
Outcome: $125,000 fine.
De Vries v JNC Group (NSW, 2023)
A recruitment officer regularly visited the workplace but had no WHS qualifications and limited knowledge of the machinery involved. The court found she lacked the experience and qualifications needed to identify the unsafe system of work.
Outcome: Approximately $336,000 attributed to the labour hire provider.
Eastlink Enterprise (WA, 2016)
A recruitment consultant assessed the workplace before placement. He had never been trained in workplace hazard identification and had not been given a structured assessment process.
Outcome: $20,000 fine.
What the Courts Keep Looking At
Across prosecutions and civil claims, the question is often not whether someone visited the host site.
It's whether the labour hire provider genuinely understood:
the work being performed
the hazards workers would be exposed to
the controls in place
whether the person conducting the assessment was competent to do so
In all three cases above, someone completed the evaluation.
The problem wasn't that nobody looked.
The problem was that the person looking wasn't properly equipped to identify the risks.
What Good Looks Like
In the NSW case involving Assign Blue, the labour hire provider was found not guilty after a worker was injured at a host workplace.
Among other things, it was able to demonstrate a documented process for assessing the host workplace and understanding the work being performed before placement.
Importantly, this wasn't a case where the labour hire provider simply relied on the host's assurances. It had taken active steps to assess the workplace and document what it knew about the work being performed.
The case highlights the value of having competent people conducting host evaluations, supported by a documented and repeatable process.
A documented, structured host evaluation completed by a competent person is one of the clearest ways a labour hire provider can demonstrate it has taken reasonably practicable steps to understand the workplace, assess the risks and discharge its WHS duties. While it is only one part of a labour hire provider's broader WHS obligations, it is often one of the first things regulators and courts examine.
So What Should Labour Hire Businesses Do?
If your recruitment consultants or account managers complete host evaluations, they need:
training in hazard identification and risk assessment
a structured host WHS evaluation tool
clear escalation pathways when risks are identified
periodic reviews when work or conditions change
Because ultimately, the responsibility sits with the labour hire provider, not the individual employee conducting the assessment. If the adequacy of a host evaluation is ever scrutinised, the labour hire provider will need to demonstrate that the assessment was completed by someone competent to do it.
Get Your Team Trained Before They're Tested
Our How to Complete Host WHS Evaluations workshop provides practical training for recruitment consultants, account managers and anyone responsible for placing workers into host workplaces.
Participants learn how to:
identify workplace hazards
assess risks
ask the right questions during host evaluations
recognise red flags and escalation triggers
document findings clearly and defensibly
Limited to 20 places
Or, if you'd rather leave it to the experts, Risk Collective can conduct host WHS evaluations on your behalf.