Workplace manslaughter law a missed opportunity

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

A statement from Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Mark Stone AM:

Any workplace death is one too many.

The Victorian Chamber genuinely hopes that the new workplace manslaughter law passed by Parliament yesterday is successful in preventing workplace injuries and deaths and it rarely, if ever, needs to be used.

The Victorian Chamber has worked hard with the Government, opposition and cross bench, trying to ensure that this law is fair and equitable and delivers improved workplace safety outcomes.

We have proposed sound and workable improvements to the legislation that would have enhanced safety outcomes and fairness.

For example, we have consistently argued for the law to apply equally to everyone in the workplace, not just organisations and senior officers. Everyone in every workplace has the power to improve safety standards. Including employees in this legislation would only improve safety outcomes.

We are disappointed these amendments were not adopted by the Parliament.

As a result, we consider the legislation will not achieve the very best outcomes for safety, investment and jobs. We will continue to seek changes to this law to make it better.

It is encouraging that the bill and its explanatory memorandum reflect employer input on:

· organisations’ liability for the actions of ‘rogue’ employees

· ensuring the offence is indictable offence

· the use of prosecutorial discretion where it is not appropriate to prosecute a family business involved in the death of a family member.

We welcome the commitment to boosting Worksafe’s investigation and enforcement capacity with a specialist team of detectives to lead workplace manslaughter investigations.

We also look forward to more support for employers to help them improve workplace safety.

We thank our members for their input and support in the development of this legislation and for their commitment to providing the safest possible workplaces.

The Victorian Chamber help employers to get it right. We advise our members on how to meet their workplace obligations and keep their workplaces and workers safe.

We will now be working closely with WorkSafe and Victorian businesses to guide employers on how to prepare for this law.

/Public Release.