Queensland company Brisbane Auto Recycling Pty Ltd has been fined $3 million dollars in Australia’s first industrial manslaughter conviction.
The entire board of directors was also charged and convicted of Category 1 offences under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. All were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, wholly suspended for 20 months.
The court heard “The defendants had no safety systems in place, in particular there was no traffic management plan.” Adding “Steps to prevent the incident involved only minor inconvenience and little, if any, cost.”
These convictions should ring alarm bells across the country for all those holding director positions. It amplifies the critical need to take work health and safety seriously in business.
