It might seem strange in church-world, but for the purposes of Work Health and Safety Act 2011 people who volunteer at your church are called “workers”.
The same is true for most insurance policies. Insurers don’t simply take into account the number of staff at your church. They want to know how many people volunteer regularly, how many people act in a representative manner. Are they welcoming at the door? They are representing your organisation. Are they leading a church Growth Group? They are doing so in a representative manner. So for insurance purposes, a church staff and church volunteers are thought of exactly the same.
The Ansvar Community Organisation Policy says, “volunteer means any person who is engaged by you to work or to provide services to you or on your behalf for your benefit in the carrying out of your operations and who receives no remuneration or compensation in money or other benefit for carrying out their duties for you”. It then uses the phrase ’employee or volunteer’ throughout the document, meaning anything that your staff might need insurance for, your volunteers need insurance for too.