Page 2360 - Week 08 - Thursday, 5 August 2021
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Specifically, under the new arrangements, a charge of industrial manslaughter could be brought where work conduct that is reckless or negligent causes the death of a person. A charge could be made against a company or another entity whose business undertaking permitted the reckless or negligent conduct.
Workplace safety is everyone’s responsibility. This offence reflects that shared responsibility while also making clear the relationship between workers and employers under the work health and safety framework.
The new offence also makes available statutory alternative offences should a prosecution for the offence of industrial manslaughter fail. This adds to the efficacy of prosecuting offences for noncompliance and is consistent with the existing category 1 and category 2 work health and safety offences, which rely on recklessness and intention in relation to breaching a health and safety duty. The maximum penalties that could apply are 20 years imprisonment for an individual or a $16.5 million penalty for a company.
The maximum penalty under the new offence is higher than for the Crimes Act offence that it replaces. This highlights the expectation of the government and the community that a gross failure of duty to an employee that results in death is manslaughter. The law must properly reflect the severity of that offence. The bill provides for a larger scope of sentencing so that courts can ensure appropriate sentences for the most serious cases.
The proposed industrial manslaughter offence aims to prevent serious injury and death in the workplace, provides a more powerful deterrent for people not to comply with their health and safety obligations, and sends a strong message that putting lives at risk in the workplace will not be tolerated by the ACT government. The changes do not create additional duties. Rather, they introduce more severe penalties on already existing duties under the Work Health and Safety Act.
Unfortunately, too often ACT workplaces are not safe workplaces. I am sad to report that last financial year more than 1,000 people were so badly injured on Canberra worksites that they had to take a day or more off work because of their injuries.
Added to this, the Work Health and Safety Commissioner has reported a concerning disregard for safety standards. For example, in April this year the Work Health and Safety Commissioner described a series of inspections on 25 residential construction sites. Only one of the 25 sites inspected was found to be compliant with the relevant safety standards. This was despite WorkSafe having visited the area twice previously. Issues identified in that series of inspections alone included inadequate fall protection, unsafe scaffolding and an apprentice performing electrical work without supervision.
One need only look a bit closer to find examples of workers who have been killed from these exact types of safety failings. The most recent SafeWork Australia nationwide report on work-related traumatic fatality indicates that in 2019 there were 21 people killed at work because of falls from height. An additional eight died from coming into contact with electricity. This is unacceptable and it is devastating. We must do better. We must have the strongest possible safety regulations and deterrents.
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