The McGowan Government will increase penalties for workplace safety offences to make them consistent with the national model Work Health and Safety Act (Model Act).
This includes a further increase for inflation (1.14 per cent) from 2010.
The amendments will increase penalties for businesses which commit safety offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1984 (OSH Act) for the first time since 2004.
“Penalties for workplace safety offences haven’t changed for 13 years. The substantial increases reflect the seriousness of ensuring the safety of Western Australian workers,” said WA Premier Mark McGowan in a statement.
Harsher penalties include increasing the maximum term of imprisonment from two to five years.
First offence fines for body corporate offenders will also drastically increase, Level 4 first time offences will increase from $500,000 to more than $2.7 million.
Level 1 penalties will increase from $50,000 to $456,000.
With the exception of WA and Victoria, other Australian jurisdictions have adopted the Model Act. As a result, penalty levels in WA’s OSH Act are significantly less than those applying in many other jurisdictions, according to a statement from the office of the Premier.
The changes are anticipated to take place ahead of the introduction of the WA Government’s Work Health and Safety Bill, which the according to the statement, will be introduced into State Parliament by mid-2019.