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, Our Data. Your Stories.
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.
Source: Safe Work Australia
