Industrial Manslaughter Bill with Victorian Parliament

Victoria has recently introduced industrial manslaughter offences into its OHS laws with the Victorian Parliament passing the Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and Other Matters) Bill 2019 (Vic) on 26 November 2019.

 The Bill amends the current Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) to include “workplace manslaughter” offences applying to body corporates and company officers.

Under the amended Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), a person will commit workplace manslaughter when they engage in conduct that is negligent, in breach of an applicable duty owed to another person, and where the conduct causes the death of a person at or near a workplace.

A breach of the offences will carry with it a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for an individual or a fine of 100,000 penalty units (currently $16,522,000) for a body corporate.

The offences will be law by 1 July 2020 at the latest, or earlier by proclamation.