Blame The Boss
New state laws are introducing harsh penalties for bosses perceived to have contributed to a worker’s or even client’s death. Do they go too far? James Mathias says they do.
Traditionally, the penalty for murder has exceeded that for managerial misdemeanour, even fraud and embezzlement. But thanks to several state and territory Labor governments, this may no longer be the case.
The new crime of “industrial manslaughter” seeks to address the issue of managers whose decisions contribute to the death of their workers, subcontractors, passers-by or clients.
The penalties are harsh. A manager found guilty under Queensland’s law (passed in 2017, partly as a response to the Dreamworld disaster in 2016) can serve up to 20 years in prison; his or her corporate employer faces up to $10 million in fines. Similar laws have been passed in the ACT, and are proposed for Victoria and the Northern Territory. Western Australia is considering following suit.
The Andrews Government’s proposed law in Victoria includes circumstances where bullying has contributed to an employee committing suicide.
The Bill proposes the creation of a Workplace Consultative Committee to handle prosecutions rather than the Office of Public Prosecutions, and cases can be brought more than two years after the incident.
The WCC will be a semi-autonomous body, required to submit a report to Parliament every year except in years when it decides a report is not necessary.
These laws are being proposed at a time when Victorian workplaces are the safest they have ever been. Workplace claims per million hours worked in 2018-19 were 6.31, the second lowest on record.
Similar figures are being recorded across Australia. Safe Work Australia says worker deaths decreased 37 per cent from 2007 to 2015.
The legislation is arguably ineffective in reducing what remains of industrial accidents. Industrial manslaughter laws were introduced in the ACT in 2003, but the (already low) rate of fatalities has not decreased.
In a submission to the Senate Inquiry into Workplace Death Investigations and Prosecutions last year, Julie and Wayne Goggin detailed the enormous toll an investigation by Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office (ESO) took on them and their business after a tragic workplace accident occurred.
It took almost two years of investigation before the ESO’s case was presented to an Industrial Magistrate who quickly ruled that Wayne had “no case to answer” and dismissed all charges against him and awarded costs.
But the damage was already done. Due to the negative media, Wayne’s business went from turning over $2.2 million a year to about $350,000. Despite being awarded full costs ($176,000), they received just $33,000 in compensation.
This growing area of legislation misses the point, which is that safety is a shared responsibility by all involved and by simply shifting the blame to the employer just leads to excessive legalism and a blame culture.