Safe Work Australia has updated the WHS prosecutions dashboard to reflect the latest publicly available data from 2023. It is now available on Safe Work Australia’s interactive data website, .
The prosecutions dashboard collates available national information on criminal prosecutions for breaching WHS laws or regulations since 1 January 2020. Developed in response to the 2018 Senate inquiry report They never came home – the framework surrounding the prevention, investigation and prosecution of industrial deaths in Australia, the prosecutions data helps inform decision-making to improve WHS outcomes.
Key findings from the 2023 data include:
- 293 prosecutions were recorded for breaching WHS Acts and/or regulations in Australia in 2023
- 15% (45) prosecutions involved a fatal injury
- the average financial penalty was $138,724
- the financial penalties across all prosecutions in 2023 totalled $40M
- in 72% of cases, the defendant PCBU pled guilty, while in fewer than 1% of cases, the defendant PCBU pled not guilty, and 27% of pleas were unknown or not published.
Future updates to the WHS prosecutions data dashboard will be released annually.
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