When sentencing for OHS offences under ss 23(1) and 144(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), the court must give adequate weight to the offender's limited capacity to pay, particularly where the individual and corporate offenders are effectively the same economic unit. The combined financial burden of fines on a sole director/shareholder and their company is a relevant consideration in the sentencing synthesis. A fine of $380,000 for a s 23(1) offence and $100,000 for a s 144(1) offence were manifestly excessive for a small one-person structural engineering business, even where the breach was very serious.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 12 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 12 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.