SA Introduces laws to Criminalise Industrial Manslaughter
SA Introduces laws to Criminalise Industrial Manslaughter
The South Australian Government recently introduced a Bill to make industrial manslaughter a criminal offence in the state.
Under the Work Health and Safety (Industrial Manslaughter) Amendment Bill, individuals can face a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, and $18 million for companies, if they are reckless or grossly negligent in conduct that breaches a work health and safety duty and results in the death of another person.
The introduction of this bill brings South Australia into line with other jurisdictions which have made industrial manslaughter a crime, including Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, and the ACT.
Key elements of the Bill include the following:
- The offence will apply where a person has been either reckless or grossly negligent in conduct which breaches a work health and safety duty under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (WHS Act) and which results in the death of an individual.
- The inclusion of a gross negligence standard reflects the recommendations of the 2018 Review of the model WHS laws. A statutory definition of gross negligence is included to make the threshold for criminality as explicit as possible and assist in educating duty-holders about their obligations.
- The maximum penalty will be 20 years imprisonment for individuals and $18 million for companies.
- The offence will apply to both Persons Conducting Business or Undertaking and officers. This recognises that responsibility for breaches of work health and safety duties can occur at many different levels of management.
- Industrial manslaughter offences will not be subject to a 2-year statute of limitations.
- An alternative verdict of guilt for a Category 1, Category 2, or Category 3 offence will be available if the trier of fact is not satisfied that a person is guilty of industrial manslaughter, but is satisfied the person is guilty of a lower-tier offence under the WHS Act.
- It is intended that industrial manslaughter will be investigated by SafeWork SA and tried in the South Australian Employment Court, consistent with existing offences under the WHS Act.
“Industrial manslaughter laws recognise that, while tragic workplace incidents do occur from time to time, it’s not an accident when people deliberately cut corners and place workers’ lives at risk. It’s a crime and it will be treated like one,” said South Australian Attorney-General, Kyam Maher.
“The overwhelming majority of businesses in South Australia do the right thing and take the health and safety of their workers seriously.
“This legislation sends a clear message to any dodgy operators that are reckless or grossly negligent with their workers’ health and safety that they will be held to account.”
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Regulators are telling duty holders to use the remaining weeks to review exposure monitoring, confirm controls are effective, and prioritise elimination and engineering controls over reliance on RPE. If your operations involve diesel plant in enclosed or poorly ventilated environments — distribution centres, tunnels, underground mining, workshops — this is the compliance item to table at your next leadership meeting. Safe Work Australia has published guidance and a transition toolkit, and state regulators including SafeWork SA have flagged the change, as has NOPSEMA for offshore operators. Sources: Safe Work Australia — Changes to Workplace Exposure Limits (safeworkaustralia.gov.au); SafeWork SA — Get ready for new Workplace Exposure Limits (safework.sa.gov.au); NOPSEMA — Diesel engine emissions: new workplace exposure limit takes effect December 2026 (nopsema.gov.au). 2. Dates ahead: Safe Work Month's “for health” week and World Mental Health Day National Safe Work Month is underway, with Safe Work Australia's 2026 theme “Safe work is for life” running week-by-week focuses: “for health” (week two, this week), “for the future” (week three) and “for all” (week four). World Mental Health Day falls on Saturday 10 October, inside Mental Health Month — a natural prompt to put psychological health on the toolbox agenda, not just the poster wall. Regulators are active too: SafeWork NSW opened the month with a compliance operation targeting the meat processing sector. Sources: Safe Work Australia — National Safe Work Month (safeworkaustralia.gov.au/national-safe-work-month); SafeWork NSW — news, 1 October 2026 (safework.nsw.gov.au). 3. People & culture: FWO recovers $453 million for workers in 2025–26 The Fair Work Ombudsman's 2025–26 results, released 14 September, show $453 million recovered for underpaid workers across the year, with Ombudsman Anna Booth urging employers to find “compliance common ground”. For employers, the signal hasn't changed: payroll governance, award classification and record-keeping sit alongside WHS as enterprise-level compliance risks — and the regulator's recovery capability keeps growing. Worth a standing item on the people & culture risk register, especially for businesses with large award-covered or labour-hire workforces. Source: Fair Work Ombudsman media release, 14 September 2026 (fairwork.gov.au/newsroom). 4. Job market pulse: national vacancies ease, HSE demand holds The ABS's August 2026 Job Vacancies figures (released 1 October) show 325,000 vacancies nationally — down 0.9% over the quarter and 1.3% over the year, and 31.2% below the May 2022 peak. Private sector vacancies fell 2.0% for the quarter while public sector vacancies rose 7.8%. Health care and social assistance remains the deepest vacancy pool at 54,300. Against that gently easing backdrop, safety hiring is holding its ground from WHS advisors in Melbourne manufacturing to safety leadership in Queensland logistics — a spread we read as steady, sector-broad demand for proven operators rather than a hiring spike. Sources: ABS — Job Vacancies, Australia, August 2026 (abs.gov.au); 5. Industry story of the week: 68% of workers likely exposed to at least one hazard Safe Work Australia's newly published Worker Exposure Survey finds 68% of Australian workers are likely exposed to at least one physical or chemical hazard at work, with 28.9% experiencing high-level exposure. 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