Occupational safety International framework and country guides
What are the penalties for breaking occupational safety rules in Australia?
Part of: Occupational safety and health in Australia: law, authorities and employer duties
Short answer
WHS breaches are criminal offences. Under the Commonwealth WHS Act, industrial manslaughter carries up to 25 years' jail or $18 million for a company, and CPI-indexed Category 1 fines reach $17,728,000 for a company in 2026-27. States set their own amounts.
Breaches of Australian work health and safety (WHS) duties are criminal offences, prosecuted in the courts. The penalty depends on the offence category, on whether the offender is an individual or a company, and on the jurisdiction. Under the Commonwealth WHS Act, industrial manslaughter carries up to 25 years' imprisonment for an individual and $18,000,000 for a body corporate.
Short answer
- Industrial manslaughter (Commonwealth, section 30A, in force from 1 July 2024): a PCBU or officer whose intentional conduct breaches a duty and causes death, with recklessness or negligence as to death.
- Category 1 (section 31): reckless or negligent exposure to a risk of death or serious injury or illness, including imprisonment of up to 15 years for individuals.
- Category 2 (section 32): failure to comply with a duty that exposes someone to that risk.
- Category 3 (section 33): failure to comply with a duty.
- Lesser offences (for example failing to notify an incident) carry fixed "tier" penalties; inspectors also use notices and infringement notices.
- Amounts below are the Commonwealth amounts for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, after the yearly consumer price index (CPI) indexation that started on 1 July 2024; states and territories set their own amounts.
Penalty table (Commonwealth WHS Act 2011, amounts for 2026-27)
| Offence | Individual as PCBU or officer | Other individual (e.g. worker) | Body corporate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial manslaughter (s 30A) | 25 years' imprisonment | Not applicable (PCBUs and officers only) | $18,000,000 (fixed, not indexed) |
| Category 1 (s 31) | $3,546,000 or 15 years or both | $1,773,000 or 15 years or both | $17,728,000 |
| Category 2 (s 32) | $494,000 | $247,000 | $2,470,000 |
| Category 3 (s 33) | $165,000 | $83,000 | $827,000 |
| Failure to notify a notifiable incident (s 38(1), tier D) | $17,000 | $17,000 | $83,000 |
Schedule 4 of the Act sets base amounts (for Category 1: $3,000,000, $1,500,000 and $15,000,000; for tier D: $14,000 and $70,000) and requires them to be indexed each year by the March-quarter CPI compared with March 2022, rounded and never reduced. Comcare publishes the result in a notifiable instrument; the figures above come from the 2026 instrument, which applies until 30 June 2027. Check the instrument in force on the date of the offence. The industrial manslaughter fine is written into section 30A and is not indexed. Each state Act has its own penalty levels, often in penalty units whose dollar value changes every year.
How liability works
The person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), its officers and workers each have their own duties, so more than one person can be prosecuted for the same event. Officers can be convicted for failing to exercise due diligence even if the company is not convicted (section 27(4)). A company cannot insure or be indemnified against a WHS fine (section 272A). Prosecutions generally must start within 2 years after the offence came to the regulator's notice, with extensions after coronial reports and no limit for industrial manslaughter (section 232).
Courts can also impose adverse publicity orders, restoration orders, WHS project orders, court-ordered undertakings, injunctions and training orders (sections 236 to 241). Instead of prosecution, the regulator may accept an enforceable undertaking (a WHS undertaking, section 216), but never for a Category 1 offence or industrial manslaughter. On site, inspectors issue improvement, prohibition and non-disturbance notices; ignoring a notice is itself an offence.
Victoria and other states
Victoria's workplace manslaughter offence (OHS Act 2004, section 39G) started on 1 July 2020, with up to 25 years' imprisonment for individuals and up to 100,000 penalty units for bodies corporate, which WorkSafe Victoria gave as $16.5 million at 1 July 2020; the dollar value rises with the yearly penalty unit. Several other states and territories have their own industrial manslaughter offences, introduced at different dates and with different penalties. For a site outside the Commonwealth system, read the penalty schedule of the local Act.
Example: A labour hire company and its host, a recycling plant in Canberra, both fail to guard a conveyor; a worker loses a hand. The regulator may charge the host (control of the plant), the labour hire PCBU (duty to the worker it engaged) and the officers of each. A Category 2 charge fits a failure that exposed the worker to a risk of serious injury; Category 1 would require proof of negligence or recklessness. The penalties are those of the ACT Act, not the Commonwealth table.
Comparison with Türkiye
Türkiye uses administrative fines for most Law No. 6331 breaches (Article 26); the amounts are updated every year and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security publishes the table for the current year (2026). Injury or death can also lead to criminal liability under the Turkish Penal Code. Australia handles serious breaches through criminal courts with very high maximum fines and imprisonment.
Related on excodex
- Occupational safety and health in Australia: law, authorities and employer duties
- What is the main OSH law in Australia and who enforces it?
- How and within what time must a workplace accident be reported in Australia?
Standards and further reading
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), sections 27, 30A to 33, 216, 232, 236 to 241, 272A and Schedule 4: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2011A00137/latest/text
- Work Health and Safety (Public Notification of Indexed Penalty Amounts) Notifiable Instrument 2026 (Comcare): https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026N00550/asmade/2026-07-27/text/original/epub/OEBPS/document_1/document_1.html
- WorkSafe Victoria, workplace manslaughter offences: https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/victorias-new-workplace-manslaughter-offences
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), section 39G: https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/occupational-health-and-safety-act-2004
- Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Türkiye), administrative fines under Law No. 6331 for 2026: https://www.csgb.gov.tr/isggm/%C4%B1sg-hizmetleri/idari-para-cezalari/
This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.
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Part of: Occupational safety and health in Australia: law, authorities and employer duties