Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2011 - SECT 31

  (1)   A person commits a Category 1 offence if:

  (a)   the person has a health and safety duty; and

  (b)   the person, without reasonable excuse, engages in conduct that:

  (i)   exposes an individual to whom the duty is owed to a risk of death or serious injury or illness; or

  (ii)   if the person is an officer of a person conducting a business or undertaking--exposes an individual, to whom the person conducting a business or undertaking owes a health and safety duty, to a risk of death or serious injury or illness; and

  (c)   the person:

  (i)   engages in the conduct with negligence; or

  (ii)   is reckless as to the risk to an individual of death or serious injury or illness.

Penalty:

  (a)   In the case of an individual--the category 1 monetary penalty or 15 years imprisonment or both.

  (b)   In the case of a body corporate--the category 1 monetary penalty.

  (2)   The prosecution bears the burden of proving that the conduct was engaged in without reasonable excuse.