Guide 5 of 5 · Consequences
WHS penalties and industrial manslaughter, by jurisdiction
Under the model WHS Act, failing a health and safety duty is an offence in one of three categories, and for an individual officer the model maximum fines, as at 1 July 2026, run from $165,000 for category 3 to $2,464,000 for category 1. Industrial manslaughter, where a breach of a duty causes a death, is a separate offence that each jurisdiction may add to its own Act, so its name, start date and penalties differ from place to place.
General information, not legal advice. Safe Work Australia says that for penalties in a particular place, the reference is that jurisdiction’s own WHS Act or its WHS regulator.
Three categories
The three offence categories in the model Act
Safe Work Australia describes the categories this way:
- The first, and most serious: “A duty holder commits a category 1 offence if they, without reasonable excuse, engage in conduct that: exposes an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness, and engages in the conduct with gross negligence or are reckless as to the risk to an individual of death or serious injury or illness.”
- The second, a failure that exposes someone to risk: “A duty holder commits a category 2 offence if they: fail to comply with a health and safety duty, and that failure exposes a person to a risk of death or serious injury or illness.”
- The third, a failure on its own: “A duty holder commits a category 3 offence if they fail to comply with a health and safety duty.”
Each year the model Act’s maximum fines are indexed to the Consumer Price Index. An officer falls in the first column of Safe Work Australia’s table, which covers an individual acting as a business or as an officer of one:
| Category | Individual, as a PCBU or an officer of a PCBU | Individual, otherwise | Body corporate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1 (reckless or grossly negligent) | $2,464,000 | $1,232,000 | $12,321,000 |
| Category 2 (failure with risk of death or serious harm) | $494,000 | $247,000 | $2,470,000 |
| Category 3 (failure to comply) | $165,000 | $83,000 | $827,000 |
These are the model’s figures, not any one jurisdiction’s law. Safe Work Australia notes that the way penalty amounts are expressed varies between all the jurisdictions. Under the Commonwealth’s own Act, Comcare reports new maximums for a body corporate effective from 1 July 2026: $17.72 million for category 1, $2.47 million for category 2 and $827,000 for category 3. The Commonwealth Act also allows imprisonment of up to 15 years for an individual convicted of a category 1 offence, as well as or instead of a fine.
Industrial manslaughter
Industrial manslaughter, place by place
The model Act includes a jurisdictional note that lets each jurisdiction insert an industrial manslaughter offence; the model maximum is $21,274,000 for a body corporate and 20 years’ imprisonment for an individual. The places this guide’s sources cover:
| Where | Start | Who can be charged | Maximum penalties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth | Start date not given in this guide’s sources; the offence is section 30A of the Act as compiled at 1 July 2024 | A PCBU, or an officer of a PCBU, with a health and safety duty; under section 34, a volunteer does not commit an offence under Division 5 of Part 2 for a failure to comply with a health and safety duty, except a duty under section 28 or 29, and an unincorporated association does not commit an offence under the Act for a failure to comply with a duty imposed on it | 25 years’ imprisonment for an individual; $18,000,000 for a body corporate, as written in that compilation |
| New South Wales | Commenced 16 September 2024 | PCBUs and officers of PCBUs, for grossly negligent conduct that breaches a duty owed to a person and causes that person’s death | $20 million for a body corporate; 25 years’ imprisonment for an individual |
| Victoria (workplace manslaughter) | Only deaths after 1 July 2020 | Organisations and self-employed people holding specified duties under the OHS Act 2004, and officers of bodies corporate, partnerships and unincorporated bodies or associations; not volunteers, and not employees unless they are also officers | 25 years’ imprisonment for individuals; $16.5 million for bodies corporate, as at 1 July 2020 |
| Queensland | Commenced 23 October 2017 | A PCBU other than an unincorporated association, or a senior officer, but not a volunteer senior officer | 20 years’ imprisonment for an individual; $10M for a body corporate, as stated on WorkSafe Queensland’s page |
| South Australia | Commenced 1 July 2024 | A PCBU, or an officer of one, owing a duty under South Australia’s WHS Act; a worker can be charged only if also an officer | 20 years’ imprisonment for an individual; $18 million for a body corporate |
This guide’s sources include no industrial manslaughter page for Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania or the Northern Territory. SafeWork SA’s page, explaining its 2023 Bill, named Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, the ACT and the Commonwealth as jurisdictions that had made industrial manslaughter a crime.
Queensland’s term
A “senior officer” in Queensland
Queensland’s offence uses its own term, and WorkSafe Queensland gives it two limbs. For a corporation, a senior officer is an executive officer, which it explains as a person concerned with, or taking part in, the corporation’s management. For an organisation that is not a corporation, it is a person who holds an executive position and makes, or takes part in making, decisions that affect all or a substantial part of the business’s functions. It lists factors such as the ability to take part in decisions about spending or strategic direction, whether a person’s decisions need further approval, and whether they oversee high-level general managers, among other similar factors. A person who only gives advice to decision-makers, or only administers a business process, is not a senior officer; nor, it says, is a line manager or supervisor who carries out the decisions of more senior management.
WorkSafe Queensland says Queensland’s existing standard for criminal negligence applies: a PCBU or senior officer is negligent if their conduct falls short of the care needed to keep life, health and safety out of danger, and that conduct substantially contributed to the death.
Same duties
No new duties, and no time limit
Industrial manslaughter adds no new duty. SafeWork NSW: “These new laws do not impose additional work health and safety duties.” SafeWork SA says the same of its laws: what changes is the penalty when a breach of an existing duty results in a death.
A note under section 30A of the Commonwealth Act says there is no limitation period for bringing proceedings for the offence. SafeWork SA says its offence is not subject to the 2-year limitation that applies to other offences under its WHS Act, and WorkSafe Victoria calls workplace manslaughter an indictable offence with no statutory limitation period.