On 22 March 2023 the recent Work, Health and Safety Amendment Bill 2022 (Cth) received Royal Assent. These amendments will change the Work, Health and Safety Act 2001(Cth) to ensure negligent employers who expose others to serious risk of harm, injury or death will face tougher penalties, along with other changes.
These new laws will expand the current provision in the Commonwealth’s Work, Health and Safety laws to include a negligent fault element for Category 1 Offences, which will inevitably lower the threshold for conviction. Category 1 Offences are the more serious category and are satisfied by a duty holder engaging in conduct which recklessly exposes a person to risk of death or serious injury or illness.
The maximum penalty for a Category 1 Offence under the Commonwealth Act is $300,000 for an individual, $600,000 for a duty holder or PCBU and $3,000,000 for a corporation. These are also reflective of the maximum penalties for a Category 1 Offence under South Australian law.
Further, these amendments will prevent duty holders from using their insurance to cover any penalties they receive for WHS breaches. The purpose of this change is to further deter duty holders from breaches as their business will be completely liable for the cost of any penalties imposed.