A Queensland business owner has been charged with industrial manslaughter over the death of a worker last year. Independent Work Health and Safety prosecutor Aaron Guilfoyle said he had commenced an industrial manslaughter prosecution against the owner of a business at Gympie, north of Brisbane, that sells and services electric motors.
It will be alleged the owner negligently caused the worker’s death at his business premises in July last year, Mr Guilfoyle said in a statement on Monday. The man reportedly died after equipment fell on the man, leaving him with critical injuries.
The maximum penalty for industrial manslaughter is 20 years. It will be the first prosecution for industrial manslaughter against an individual since the offence was enacted in Queensland in 2017. A company had also been charged over the same incident.
The charges against the business owner are expected to be mentioned in Gympie Magistrates Court on October 1.
In June this year, a Brisbane Auto Recycling was successfully prosecuted for industrial manslaughter and fined $3 million after a worker was hit and killed by a forklift at a car wrecking yard in Brisbane.
Company directors Asadullah Hussaini, 25, and Mohammad Ali Jan Karimi, 23, were sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended, after they pleaded guilty to engaging in reckless conduct.
Source: Yahoo News
