New South Wales Consolidated Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2000 - SECT 32A

32A Reckless conduct causing death at workplace by person with OHS duties

(1) In this section:
"conduct" includes acts or omissions.

(2) A person:

(a) whose conduct causes the death of another person at any place of work, and

(b) who owes a duty under Part 2 with respect to the health or safety of that person when engaging in that conduct, and

(c) who is reckless as to the danger of death or serious injury to any person to whom that duty is owed that arises from that conduct,

is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty:

(a) in the case of a corporation-15,000 penalty units, or

(b) in the case of an individual-imprisonment for 5 years or 1,500 penalty units, or both.

(3) It is a defence to any proceedings against a person for that offence if the person proves that there was a reasonable excuse for the conduct.

Note: Section 28 provides general defences for any offence against the Act.

(4) For the purposes of this section:

(a) a person’s conduct causes death if it substantially contributes to the death, and

(b) the death of a person is taken to have been caused at a place of work if the person is injured at the place of work but dies elsewhere as a result of the injury, and

(c) it does not matter that the conduct that causes death did not occur at the place of work.

(5) If a corporation owes a duty under Part 2 with respect to the health or safety of any person, any director or other person concerned in the management of the corporation is taken also to owe that duty for the purposes of subsection (2).

(6) Section 26 (Offences by corporations-liability of directors and managers) does not apply to an offence against this section. However, this does not prevent a director or other person concerned in the management of a corporation from being prosecuted under this section for an offence committed by the director or other person.