South Australia one step closer to Industrial Manslaughter legislation

In the past month, the Work Health and Safety (Industrial Manslaughter) Amendment Bill 2022, has moved past the consultation stage and has now been introduced to parliament by the Government.

Since its inception, this Bill has gone through rigorous community consultation, whereby the Government sought feedback from the South Australian Business Chamber, unions, work health and safety professionals, small business and industry groups, about the wording and impact this Bill would have if it was to be passed.

Should this Bill be passed, it will not create any further duties or obligations than those already existing. However, it will mean that if existing duties are breached and death results from such a breach, then the penalty will be as severe as if it were to be heard in the criminal jurisdiction, as the severity of the crime is the same.

Since the consultation period has ended, the Government has considered the feedback and amended the Bill to include the following:

• They have proposed amending the existing three categories of offences so that the test for a Category 1 offence is ​“grossly negligent or reckless conduct that exposes a person to risk of death, serious injury or illness”.
• The test for a Category 1 offence under the current Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) is ​“reckless conduct that exposes a person to risk of death, serious injury or illness”.
• The test for whether conduct is grossly negligent is proposed in the Bill as ​“a great falling short of the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the circumstances and that there is such a high risk of causing the death of an individual.”
• The Government has also amended the penalties included in the Bill so a person conducting a business or undertaking, could face up to 20 years imprisonment, and body corporates could face financial penalties of up to $18 million if a breach of their duties results in death. This has been significantly increased from the earlier draft of the Bill. The body corporate penalty was previously proposed as a maximum of $13 million.

If this Bill is passed it will bring South Australia in-line with other states such as Queensland, Victoria Western Australia and the ACT, who have already made industrial manslaughter a crime.

We will keep you updated as the Bill progresses through Parliament.