Industrial manslaughter could be an offence under ACT work health and safety laws, according to legislation Mick Gentleman, Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety, tabled in the Legislative Assembly this week.
Canberra workers would be better protected, and negligent employers would face harsher penalties, he argued.
“Stronger industrial manslaughter legislation will help prevent workplace tragedies and remind employers of their obligations,” Mr Gentleman said earlier this week.
“Canberra workers have the right to return home safely, and employers have an important role to play in this.
“This change will also give families of those killed in the workplace better access to justice, and provide more avenues to address poor workplace safety practices and systemic non-compliance.”
Every second day, an Australian worker dies from a traumatic injury at work, Mr Gentleman said in the Assembly. This does not include worker deaths from occupational diseases like silicosis or deaths of bystanders from traumatic incidents at work sites.
Last year, two people were killed on ACT construction sites, both in Denman Prospect.
The rate of workplace deaths in Australia had not changed in five years, Mr Gentleman said, despite public awareness campaigns and technological advancements in safety and emergency medicine.
“Stronger action is required to prevent deaths at work,” he said. “I am introducing this bill today because everyone has the right to come home safe every day.”
The Bill proposes transferring industrial manslaughter offence provisions from the Crimes Act 1900 into the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Mr Gentleman said his Bill provided a mechanism whereby companies or their directors could be held accountable for a workplace death caused by recklessness or negligence.
In 2004, the ACT Labor Government became the first government in Australia to introduce an industrial manslaughter offence.
However, the Crimes Act offence can only apply where a company or a senior officer of a company causes the death of an employee of that company.
Obligations on employers and their officers under the Workplace Health and Safety Act are broader – and extend to protecting the health and safety of any person affected by their work, Mr Gentleman said.
By establishing the industrial manslaughter offence within the work safety framework, a charge could be brought where reckless or negligent action or inaction causes the death of any person in the workplace.
The charge of industrial manslaughter could be made against a company or other entity whose business undertaking committed the reckless or negligent conduct, or against an individual officer of the business or undertaking.
The maximum penalties would be 20 years imprisonment for an individual or a $16.5 million penalty for a company.
“This will provide a strong deterrent against dangerous and dodgy workplace practices that lead to serious injury and death,” Mr Gentleman said. “This would in turn allow for more effective education and awareness raising about the consequences of poor safety practices.”
The Bill does not reduce existing work health and safety obligations.
Mr Gentleman said he would work with unions, industry, and the wider community to design and implement reforms to better protect workers from silicosis and other dust diseases.
For more news:
