Tasmania is now the only jurisdiction in Australia that has not implemented, or is planning to implement, industrial manslaughter laws.
We’re falling behind the rest of the country.
Tasmania’s work health and safety (WHS) laws need to include an industrial manslaughter offence that means employers are deterred from shirking their safety responsibilities and if a worker dies, there are real consequences including jail time and significant fines.
Why is this important?
Each year, thousands of Tasmanian workers are seriously injured at work. Sadly, over the last decade, there have been 87 work-related fatalities in Tasmania. We believe this number would be even higher if all work-related deaths, including suicide, were included in the official statistics.
Earlier this year, all WHS Ministers from across Australia voted to include an industrial manslaughter offence in our national model WHS laws.
To make that a reality for Tasmania, however, requires the Tasmanian Government to legislate for them here.
Unions Tasmania is calling on Minister Madeleine Ogilvie, and the Rockliff Government, to commit to industrial manslaughter laws in our state.
