Significant changes to sentencing of OHS offences recommended
Following more than 12 months of analysis and consultation, the Sentencing Advisory Council (Council) has released its final report into Sentencing Occupational Health and Safety Offences in Victoria (Report) on 26 February 2025.
The Council concluded that:
- many fines go unpaid, particularly for companies that have been deregistered;
- sentencing outcomes other than fines are rarely used, but have great potential to improve safety practices;
- fines that are imposed are often out of step with community expectations; and
- people affected by workplace incidents are often excluded from the sentencing process.
On the basis of these findings, the Council considers there is significant need for reform to change how OHS offences are sentenced in Victoria, including amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (OHS Act).
The Council put 12 recommendations to the Victorian Government which include:
- significant increase in maximum penalties for companies and individuals who breach their health and safety duties:
- for a company: fines of approximately $ 9.89 million up from approximately $ 1.78 million (indexed annually)
- for an individual: fines of approximaely $ 1.98 million up from $ 335,662
- an increase in maximum penalties for individuals who recklessly endanger persons at workplaces to 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of approximately $ 1.98 million;
- changes to, and the increased use of, the sentencing option of ‘health and safety undertakings’, including a significant increase in penalties for breached undertakings;
- expanding the opportunities for people affected by OHS offences to participate in sentencing;
- new mechanisms to improve accountability for penalties imposed, including making more company directors personally liable for fines in appropriate circumstances, and investigating the potential introduction of successor liability in Victoria, which would mean a phoenix company could be held accountable for fines imposed on the deregistered company that it replaced; and
- developing a world-first legislated sentencing guideline to include in the OHS Act. That guideline would provide courts with guidance on how to adjust penalties to the relative financial circumstances of offenders and would include ranges of indicative sentences based on key factors in the case, such as the fact that someone was killed or injured as a result of the offence.
The Victorian Government will now consider the recommendations put to it by the Council. There is no definitive timeframe for this to occur.