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Ashurst pinpoints WHS trends
Australian workplace health and safety duty holders are being held to account in 2019 with a recognisable trend towards strengthened WHS laws, lawyers from Ashurst have flagged.
In an Ashurst Safety Matters Alert, the firm has looked at Prosecutions, penalties, and prison time: WHS trends for 2019 to caution that “higher category prosecutions appear to be on the rise, penalties are increasing and officers are being imprisoned for WHS breaches”.
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The firm has identified that the approach being taken by regulators and courts to enforcement of WHS duties underscores the importance of duty holders being diligent when discharging their work health and safety duties.
Ashurst said that affected persons should be aware of the recent review undertaken by Marie Boland, the former executive director of SafeWork SA, into the operation of the model WHS laws and her proposal of 34 amendments, inclusive of industrial manslaughter and gross negligence offences and the prohibition of obtaining insurance for WHS penalties.
Lawyers from the firm also reflected on the trend of higher penalties being imposed on officers and PCBUs, noting the imprisonment of three officers (two in Queensland, one in Victoria) since December 2018 for breaches to health and safety-related acts that resulted in worker deaths.
Individuals and companies need to regularly check that PCBU WHS systems in use comply with WHS laws, and support personal duty holders, such as officers, to exercise their duties, through education and provision of appropriate and regular WHS information, Ashurst’s lawyers outlined.
Workplaces have also been encouraged to “keep abreast of key trends in WHS laws, including the progress of the recommendations to amend the model WHS laws”, as put forward by Ms Boland, Ashurst further explained.
