CRIMINAL LAW — Work health and safety — Offences — Category 2 — Worker’s hand drawn between two rollers and crushed
SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Reduced moral culpability — Substantial mitigating factors — Specific deterrence substantially diminished — Reduced capacity to pay
Quick Take
1Where a PCBU has devoted considerable attention and resources to WHS obligations — including engaging external consultants, maintaining SOPs for most plant, and promptly addressing issues raised by the regulator — but has a gap in its safety system for infrequently used machinery, moral culpability is materially reduced but does not eliminate the offence.
2The need for specific deterrence is substantially diminished where the offender had proactive safety systems in place prior to the incident, has since remediated the deficiency, disposed of the relevant plant, and continues to engage professional WHS consultants.
3When assessing capacity to pay under s 6 of the Fines Act 1996 (NSW), the court may moderate a fine significantly below the amount otherwise warranted by objective seriousness and general deterrence, taking into account the offender's straitened financial position and the additional burden of a costs order.
