Company Officials Can Now Be Held Responsible For The Workplace Health And Safety Of Their Employees

ATTENTION ALL BUSINESS OWNERS
As of Monday the 2nd of June the ACT will be the first be the first jurisdiction to charge a senior company manager over the death of a worker in a workplace accident. Under new nationally occupational health and safety laws, the category two offence carries with it a maximum company fine of $1.5 million while an officer of the company can be fined $300,000!

Michael Booth, 48, was electrocuted while working for Kenoss Contractors in 2012, after his dump truck trailer touched power lines while he was offloading gravel. ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe investigated the accident found that the power lines were very low. He also said, “You have to question why the dump was put in such a location. They could have located it across the road well out of the reach of power lines.”

The contracting company in question, Kenoss Contractors, has since gone into involuntary liquidation. While in previous cases companies that went into liquidation were dissolved before reaching court, in this case, the senior company manager will still face charges regardless of what happened with Kenoss. The new occupational health and safety laws are designed to ensure that now senior managers and company officials can be directly liable for the safety of their employees.

The new legislation intends to send a strong warning to senior managers and officials about safety across all industries. Company officials and business owners need to be aware that they are now considered responsible for the work health and safety of their employees.

ABOUT WHS SOLUTIONS
WHS Solutions can help safeguard you against workplace ruin. WHS Solutions is an outsourced team of health and safety consultants, we work side-by-side with you manage your occupational health and safety systems with our WHSS Safety System. Our highly trained team of consultants provide assessment and certification to meet all our applicable workplace health and safety regulations. This ensures that your employees are fully covered and working in the safety possible environment.

Enlisting WHS Solutions to manage your occupational health and safety is the smartest way to avoid not only workplace incidents but also big money losses.

The team at WHS Solutions has combined experience of over 132 years and works with companies all over Western Australia. After just 20 minutes with an experienced WHS consultant you can learn if your company is compliant and how you can improve.

For more information regarding WHS Solutions, please contact:
Email: enquiries@yoursafetysolutions.com.au
Telephone: 08 9427 1788
Or visit http://yoursafetysolutions.com.au/