Chapter heading 1

Who Should Owe the Duty of Care?

110. 
     The Tasmanian Act defines a ‘service provider’ as a person engaged to provide a service at, or in connection with, a workplace; or a person who is licensed, registered or holds a certificate under regulations. The Tasmanian Act does not define a ‘service’.
     
111. 
     We recommend that the model Act include definitions of ‘service’ and ‘service provider’ to provide clarity in the scope of the proposed duty of care.²¹⁹ That would allow those on whom the duty of care would be placed to understand that they are subject to it, while preventing any unintended application of the duty of care.
     
112. 
     To indicate at this point the intended scope of the duty of care, the class of persons within the definition of ‘service providers’ might include:
     

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  a health and safety organisation;
  
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  consultants providing advice or intellectual property (e.g. policies, systems);
  
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  training providers;
  
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  lawyers;
  
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  occupational hygienists or others undertaking environmental or biological testing or analysis; or
  
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  any person or entity (claiming to have knowledge and/or expertise in the area of occupational health and safety) providing a service to a business or undertaking.