The new laws take effect from 1 July 2024, which now make industrial manslaughter a criminal offence and put employers on notice that the most serious health and safety breaches now carry severe penalties.
Its important that employers understand that they can face up to 20 years in prison if they are found to have caused the death of a worker through a reckless or grossly negligent breach of health and safety, under new industrial manslaughter laws. Employers can also be punished with fines of up to $18 million.
Make industrial manslaughter a criminal offence fulfills a key State Government election commitment and brings South Australia into line with other states and territories across Australia.
Safework SA has communicated that its inspectors are working with high-risk industries, including agriculture, construction, road transport and manufacturing to reinforce the need to maintain rigorous safety standards.
How can a person commit industrial manslaughter?
What do businesses need to do?
It’s important to recognise that the new laws do not impose any additional health and safety obligations on businesses or workers. Instead, they ensure that if a worker is killed through a breach of existing laws then severe penalties are available.
One of the key actions employers can take is to focus on managing health and safety risks in the workplace, either by eliminating risks or, if this is not reasonably practicable, minimising them.
Hazard management is a continuous process that is used to improve the health and safety of all workplaces. It is essentially a problem-solving process aimed at defining problems (identifying hazards), gathering information about them (assessing the risks) and solving them (controlling the risks).
The duty to manage work health and safety risks is placed on persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU’s).
Keeping records of your risk management process can assist in demonstrating potential compliance with work health and safety legislation. It can help you to monitor the health and safety performance of your business.
