Photo: IPAA
The Chief Executive of WorkSafe Victoria, Colin Radford has declared that Victoria’s employers have a strong new reason to make health and safety their first priority as workplace manslaughter laws came into effect at the start of this month.
Mr Radford (pictured) said employers who failed to meet health and safety obligations now faced tough new penalties should their negligence lead to a worker dying on the job.
“This includes up to 25 years in prison for individuals or $16 million in fines for corporations,” Mr Radford said.
“The new laws will be enforced with support from WorkSafe’s specialised Fatalities Investigations Team – a dedicated unit that will be responsible for investigating workplace deaths,” he said.
“WorkSafe has already appointed 11 members to this team, including eight experienced WorkSafe investigators and three newly graduated investigators who have years of experience with Victoria Police.”
Mr Radford said that as part of the health and safety reforms, WorkSafe had also broadened the criteria defining a workplace death.
“Those killed on the road while working, suicides attributable to a workplace health and safety failure, deaths from industrial diseases such as silicosis, and workplace deaths resulting from a criminal act, will be recognised in WorkSafe’s fatality toll from this week,” he said.
“This change will ensure the death of every worker gets the recognition it deserves and bring increased focus to workplace health and safety to re-enforce to Victoria’s employers that they must make it their number one priority.”
Mr Radford said workplace manslaughter laws would play a crucial role in making Victorian workplaces safer.
