If you run a landscaping business in Australia and you employ anyone — full-time, part-time, or casual — you need workers compensation insurance. It’s not optional, it’s not something you can contract out of, and the penalties for getting it wrong are serious. This article walks through everything a landscaping business owner needs to know about workers comp in 2026: who needs to be covered, how premiums are calculated, what happens if you don’t comply, and how workers comp differs from public liability insurance.
What Is Workers Compensation Insurance?
Workers compensation is a mandatory insurance scheme that covers your employees if they’re injured or become ill because of their work. In Australia, workers comp operates at the state and territory level — each jurisdiction has its own regulator, its own insurer (or panel of insurers), and its own rules. There’s no single national scheme, although they all share the same core purpose: making sure injured workers get medical treatment, income support, and rehabilitation without having to sue their employer.
For a landscaping business, the risks are obvious. Your team is handling power tools, lifting heavy materials, working at heights, operating machinery, and often working outdoors in the Australian heat. Injuries happen — even on well-run sites with strong safety protocols. Workers comp makes sure that when they do, your employees are looked after and you’re not facing a lawsuit that could send the business under.
When Are You Legally Required to Have It?
The short answer: if you pay wages to anyone, you need workers comp. This applies to full-time employees, part-time employees, and casuals. It even applies in many situations to contractors and subcontractors, which is where a lot of landscaping business owners get caught out.
There’s no minimum headcount threshold or small-business exemption. If you have a single apprentice on the books one day a week, you need a workers comp policy. If you hire a casual labourer for a three-week job, you need coverage. The obligation kicks in the moment an employment relationship exists, and in most states you must have the policy in place before the employee starts work — not the day after, not once the first pay run goes through.
The only people you generally don’t need to cover are sole traders and partners in a partnership who are working in their own business. But even then, many choose to take out personal injury cover, and we’ll get to that.
The Subcontractor Grey Zone
This is the area where landscaping business owners most often trip themselves up. You hire someone who has an ABN, they invoice you, and you assume they’re a genuine contractor so workers comp doesn’t apply. That assumption can be expensive.
In Australia, having an ABN doesn’t automatically make someone a contractor for workers comp purposes. Every state regulator and the ATO apply tests to determine whether a worker is genuinely running their own business or is effectively an employee in disguise — what’s known as sham contracting.
The key tests look at things like: who controls how and when the work is done? Does the worker use their own tools and equipment? Can they delegate the work to someone else? Are they paid by the hour or by the result? Do they work exclusively for you or do they have multiple clients? If the answers point toward an employment relationship, that person needs to be covered by your workers comp policy regardless of what their ABN or invoice says.
Some landscaping businesses try to avoid the issue by having every worker operate through a company structure. Be careful here: directors of a company who are doing the physical work themselves can still be deemed workers in several states. Queensland, for example, has specific provisions that can bring working directors of contractor companies under a principal contractor’s workers comp policy.
If you use subcontractors, speak to your state’s workers compensation authority or get professional advice. The cost of getting it wrong can include backdated premiums going back years, plus penalties.
What Workers Comp Actually Covers
Workers comp isn’t one benefit — it’s a package of entitlements. Here’s what a covered employee can generally access across Australian schemes:
Weekly income benefits. If a worker can’t work because of a compensable injury, they receive a percentage of their pre-injury average weekly earnings. This typically starts at around ninety to ninety-five per cent for the first few weeks, then drops to around eighty per cent for the longer term, subject to caps that vary by state. For a landscaping business, this means your injured employee has income while they recover instead of having zero dollars coming in.
Medical and treatment expenses. Workers comp covers reasonable medical costs related to the injury: GP visits, surgery, physiotherapy, medication, diagnostic scans, and whatever else is clinically necessary. Some schemes also cover travel costs to and from medical appointments.
Rehabilitation. Most schemes fund the cost of a rehabilitation provider who helps the worker return to work safely. This can include workplace assessments, graduated return-to-work plans, and retraining if the worker can’t return to their previous role. Getting an injured landscaper back on the tools — or into a different role if they can’t — is what rehab is designed to do.
Lump sum for permanent impairment. If a workplace injury results in permanent physical or psychological impairment, the worker may be entitled to a lump sum payment. The amount depends on the assessed degree of impairment, using a scale set by legislation. For a severe landscaping injury — say, a fall from height resulting in spinal damage — this can be a substantial payment.
Death benefits. If a worker dies from a workplace injury, workers comp pays a lump sum to their dependants, plus funeral expenses and ongoing weekly payments to dependent children in most states.
Workers comp does not cover pain and suffering or punitive damages the way a common law claim might. It’s a statutory no-fault scheme: the worker doesn’t have to prove you were negligent, just that the injury arose out of or in the course of their employment.
State-by-State: Who Provides Workers Comp for Landscapers
Because each Australian state and territory runs its own scheme, the insurer you deal with depends on where your business operates. If you work across state borders — which plenty of landscapers near the Gold Coast-Tweed or Albury-Wodonga do — you may need separate policies in each jurisdiction.
New South Wales. Workers comp in NSW is administered by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, with Insurance and Care NSW — known as iCare — acting as the scheme agent. Most private employers get their policy through an iCare-appointed insurance agent. Premiums are calculated based on your industry classification and total wages.
Victoria. WorkSafe Victoria is the sole regulator and insurer. Every Victorian employer must register with WorkSafe and pay an annual premium. Landscaping falls into a specific industry classification that reflects the physical risk profile of the work.
Queensland. WorkCover Queensland is the monopoly provider. If your business operates in Queensland and employs workers, you register directly with WorkCover Queensland and pay premiums based on your wage bill and your industry rate. Queensland also has specific rules around contractors that are worth understanding if you use subcontractors on landscaping projects.
South Australia. ReturnToWorkSA runs the scheme, with employers registering directly for a policy. The scheme uses a similar industry classification and wages-based premium model to other states.
Western Australia. WorkCover WA is the regulator, but private insurers issue the policies. Unlike the eastern states with their monopoly schemes, WA operates a competitive model: you can choose from a panel of approved insurers, and they compete on service and, to some extent, on pricing within regulated bands.
Tasmania. The scheme is administered by WorkSafe Tasmania, with the insurance arm operating through licensed private insurers similar to WA’s model.
Northern Territory. NT WorkSafe regulates the scheme, and a panel of approved insurers issues policies.
Australian Capital Territory. The ACT scheme is run by WorkSafe ACT, with licensed private insurers providing coverage.
How Premiums Are Calculated for Landscaping Businesses
Workers comp premiums follow a straightforward formula: your industry classification rate multiplied by your total annual wages. The industry rate reflects the risk profile of the work your employees do. Landscaping, which involves manual labour, machinery, heights, and outdoor conditions, sits in a higher-risk classification than an office-based business. Rates typically range from roughly three per cent to eight per cent of wages, though the exact rate depends on your specific classification within the landscaping industry, your claims history, and your state’s rating structure.
Here’s a practical example. If you employ four landscapers on an average wage of seventy thousand dollars each, your total wages are two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. At an industry rate of five per cent, your annual premium would be around fourteen thousand dollars. At three per cent, it’s around eight thousand four hundred. At eight per cent, it’s over twenty-two thousand. The spread is significant, which is why it’s worth understanding how your state classifies your business and whether you’re in the right category.
Your claims history also matters. Most schemes use an experience rating or claims performance system that adjusts your premium up or down based on how many claims you’ve had and their cost. A landscaping business with a strong safety record and no claims over several years will generally pay less than an equivalent business with multiple claims. Some schemes also apply employer excesses — the first portion of a claim that you pay yourself, similar to a deductible on other insurance policies.
Wages include more than just base salary or hourly rates. Superannuation, overtime, allowances, bonuses, and sometimes even fringe benefits count toward the wages figure used to calculate your premium. Most insurers require an annual wage declaration, and they audit a portion of employers each year. If you’ve under-declared your wages, you’ll be hit with a backdated premium adjustment, plus interest and possibly penalties.
Sole Traders and Working Directors
If you’re a sole trader running a landscaping business with no employees, you’re generally not required by law to have workers comp covering yourself. The reasoning is that workers comp is an employer obligation, and a sole trader isn’t technically employing themselves. However, that doesn’t mean you should go without cover.
If you’re injured on a job and can’t work for three months, workers comp doesn’t apply to you. You’ll have no income, and Medicare will cover your hospital stay but not your lost wages, rehab costs, or the gap between the public system and what you actually need to recover properly. Income protection insurance can fill part of that gap, but many sole traders in high-risk trades choose to take out personal injury cover through their state’s workers comp scheme if the option is available. In some states, sole traders can opt in to cover themselves voluntarily, and it’s worth checking whether your state allows it.
For company directors who also work on the tools, the situation varies. In most states, a working director is considered a worker for workers comp purposes and must be covered. The premiums you pay on your own wages then protect you if you’re injured. If you’re running a landscaping business through a company structure and you’re out on site every day, make sure you’ve declared yourself as a worker and that your policy covers you. Getting hurt and discovering you weren’t covered is an expensive and unpleasant surprise.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
Failing to carry workers comp carries consequences that go well beyond a slap on the wrist. If a state regulator discovers you’re employing workers without a policy, you can expect a letter — and it won’t be a friendly one.
The most immediate penalty is backdated premiums. The insurer or regulator will calculate what you should have paid from the date you first employed someone, add interest, and send you a bill. For a landscaping business that’s been operating for two years with a handful of employees, this can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. You don’t get the benefit of the cover for those past periods — if a worker was injured during that time, you’re personally liable for the cost of their claim, which can be enormous.
On top of backdated premiums, there are fines. These vary by state but can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for serious or repeated breaches. In some jurisdictions, company directors can be held personally liable for unpaid premiums, meaning the corporate veil doesn’t protect you.
Then there’s the practical risk: an uninsured worker gets injured and makes a claim. Without workers comp, there’s no insurer to manage the claim, pay the medical bills, or provide rehabilitation. The worker can sue you directly for damages. Even if you’re not at fault — remember, workers comp is no-fault — the worker can pursue a common law negligence claim, and without an insurer, you’re funding your own legal defence. A serious injury can result in a damages award that exceeds a million dollars. That’s a business-ending amount for most landscaping operations.
How Workers Comp Differs from Public Liability Insurance
One of the most common points of confusion for landscaping business owners is the difference between workers compensation and public liability insurance. They’re entirely separate products that cover entirely different risks, and you almost certainly need both.
Public liability insurance covers injury or property damage you cause to third parties — clients, members of the public, passersby, or other trades on site. If a branch you’re trimming falls on a client’s car, that’s public liability. If a visitor trips over your equipment and breaks an ankle, that’s public liability. If you accidentally cut through a buried pipe at a job site and flood the neighbour’s property, that’s public liability.
Workers compensation covers injuries to your own workers. If your apprentice slices their hand open with a hedge trimmer, that’s workers comp, not public liability. If your team leader does their back lifting a heavy sleeper, that’s workers comp. Public liability won’t respond to claims from your employees because they’re not third parties — they’re your workers.
A landscaping business with employees typically needs public liability insurance, workers compensation, and often tool and equipment cover, all as separate policies. Some insurers bundle these together into business insurance packages, but workers comp is almost always separate because it’s a regulated statutory product. You can compare business insurance options that include public liability through providers like BizCover{target=“_blank” rel=“noopener”}, which lets you get quotes from multiple insurers in one place.
Interstate Work and Cross-Border Complications
Landscaping businesses near state borders face extra complexity. If you’re based in Albury but do jobs across the river in Wodonga, your NSW workers comp policy might not cover your employees while they’re working in Victoria. Each state’s scheme has rules about when a worker from another jurisdiction needs to be covered locally.
Generally, if your employees work predominantly in one state, you hold the policy in that state even if they do short stints across the border. But if you have a crew that works regularly in another state, or if you set up a second location, you’ll likely need a separate policy in that jurisdiction. The threshold for “working in” a state varies — some schemes trigger after a certain number of days, others look at where the worker is usually based.
The safest approach: if you’ve got employees crossing borders for landscaping work, call the workers comp authority in both states, explain your situation, and get written confirmation of where you need to be covered. Guessing wrong can leave an injured worker without coverage and you with a personal liability.
What to Do When a Worker Is Injured
Knowing the claims process before an injury happens saves panic and mistakes in the moment. When a worker is injured on a landscaping job, the priority is always medical treatment. Get them to a doctor or hospital. Once that’s under control, here’s what needs to happen on the insurance side.
Notify your workers comp insurer as soon as possible — most states require notification within forty-eight hours, and some impose penalties for late reporting. You’ll need to provide details of the injury, how it happened, the worker’s details, and the treating doctor’s information. The worker will also need to complete a claim form and provide a certificate of capacity from their doctor, which outlines what they can and can’t do while recovering.
The insurer then assesses the claim and decides whether to accept liability. If accepted, they start paying benefits directly to the worker and arranging medical treatment and rehabilitation. Your role as the employer is to cooperate with the return-to-work process. Most schemes require employers to provide suitable duties where possible — lighter work that the injured worker can do while they recover, even if it’s not their normal landscaping role. An employee who can’t lift but can do administrative tasks, quote preparation, or site inspections in a vehicle can often return to some form of work while healing.
Failing to provide suitable duties when they’re available can extend the claim, push up your premium, and in some states trigger penalties. A proactive return-to-work program is one of the most effective ways to keep premiums down and get your people back on the tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need workers comp for casual workers on a landscaping job?
Yes, absolutely. Workers comp applies to all workers you pay wages to, regardless of whether they’re full-time, part-time, or casual. The number of hours they work or how long the job lasts doesn’t change the obligation. If you’re paying wages, you need coverage.
Can I avoid workers comp by making all my workers get their own ABNs?
No, and attempting to do this is known as sham contracting, which can attract significant penalties from the ATO and state regulators. Simply having an ABN and invoicing you doesn’t make someone a genuine contractor. If the relationship looks like employment — you direct how the work is done, provide the tools, pay by the hour, and they work exclusively for you — the worker will likely be deemed an employee for workers comp purposes regardless of the paperwork.
How much does workers comp cost for a small landscaping business?
Premiums vary by state, industry classification, and total wages, but for landscaping you can generally expect to pay somewhere in the range of three to eight per cent of your annual wage bill. A small operation with one or two employees on sixty-five thousand dollars each might pay between four thousand and ten thousand dollars a year. Your actual rate depends on your specific classification, your claims history, and your state’s pricing structure. The only way to get an exact figure is to request a quote or register with your state’s provider.
What happens if I don’t have workers comp and an employee gets hurt?
You’ll be personally liable for the full cost of the worker’s injury — medical expenses, lost wages, rehabilitation, and potentially a lump sum for permanent impairment if the injury is serious. The worker can also sue you directly for damages. On top of that, the state regulator will pursue you for backdated premiums plus fines. For a serious injury, the combined financial impact can easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. The risk isn’t worth taking.
As a sole trader landscaper, should I get workers comp for myself?
You’re generally not legally required to, but it’s worth considering. If an injury stops you from working, workers comp wouldn’t cover you by default, and you’d be without income. Some states let sole traders opt in for personal injury cover through the workers comp scheme. Alternatively, income protection insurance serves a similar purpose outside the workers comp framework. Either way, landscaping is physical work and the risk of injury is real — having a plan for what happens if you can’t work is sensible business practice.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. Workers compensation rules vary by state and individual circumstances. Before making decisions about your insurance needs, read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and speak with your state workers compensation authority or a licensed insurance professional. You can compare business insurance options, including public liability cover, at BizCover{target=“_blank” rel=“noopener”}.