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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Work Health and Safety (Industrial Manslaughter)
Amendment Bill 2020
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the
Work
Health and Safety Act 2012
.
Contents
Part 2—Amendment of Work Health and
Safety Act 2012
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Work Health and Safety (Industrial
Manslaughter) Amendment Act 2020.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Work Health and Safety
Act 2012
After section 268 insert:
268A—Industrial manslaughter
(1) An employer is guilty of an offence if—
(a) the employer breaches a duty imposed under Part 2
Division 2; and
(b) the employer knew, or ought reasonably to have known, or was
recklessly indifferent as to whether, the act or omission constituting the
breach would create a substantial risk of serious harm to a person;
and
(c) the breach causes the death of a person (whether or not the person was
an employee of the employer and whether or not the death occurred in a
workplace).
Maximum penalty:
(a) in the case of an employer who is a natural person—20 years
imprisonment;
(b) in any other case—$13 000 000.
(2) An officer of an employer that is a body corporate is guilty of an
offence if—
(a) the officer engages in conduct that, had the officer been acting
within the scope of the officer's actual or apparent authority, would be imputed
to the employer pursuant to section 244; and
(b) the conduct would, if so imputed, constitute a breach by the employer
of a duty imposed under Part 2 Division 2; and
(c) the officer knew, or ought reasonably to have known, or was recklessly
indifferent as to whether, the act or omission constituting the breach would
create a substantial risk of serious harm to a person; and
(d) the breach causes the death of a person (whether or not the person was
an employee of the employer and whether or not the death occurred in a
workplace).
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 20 years.
(3) It is a defence to a charge of an offence against this section for the
defendant to prove that the act or omission alleged to constitute the
breach—
(a) occurred in the course of an emergency; or
(b) was authorised under this or any other Act or law of the State or the
Commonwealth.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents an employer and an officer of the
employer from both being guilty of an offence against this section in respect of
a particular death.
(5) For the purposes of this section—
(a) the way in which the activities of the employer were managed or
organised causes a breach of a duty if it substantially contributes to the
breach;
(b) a breach of a duty causes the death of a person if it substantially
contributes to the death.
(6) An offence against this section is a major indictable
offence.
(7) Section 267 of the
Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935
does not apply in respect of an offence against this section.
(8) If at the trial of a person for an offence against this section the
jury is not satisfied that the accused is guilty of the offence charged but is
satisfied that the accused is guilty of an offence under Part 2
Division 5, the jury may bring a verdict that the accused is guilty of that
offence.