CRIMINAL LAW — Work health and safety — Offences — Category 3 — Risk of workers being exposed to high levels of nitrogen in a confined space — No risk assessments undertaken — No SWMS for task of detecting leak in transformer — Failure to provide safety data sheet for nitrogen
SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Above mid-range of objective seriousness — No aggravating factors — Substantial mitigating factors — No role of specific deterrence
Quick Take
1Where a PCBU introduces a hazardous chemical such as nitrogen into an enclosed space without conducting any risk assessment, without developing a Safe Work Method Statement for the relevant task, and without providing workers with the Safety Data Sheet or appropriate training, the objective seriousness of the breach falls well above the mid-range for a Category 3 offence, even where no injury resulted.
2An otherwise positive safety record and general safety consciousness does not reduce the objective seriousness of a specific failure to identify and control a plainly foreseeable risk, though it may reduce the offender's moral culpability as a distinct sentencing consideration.
3Where an offender company has ceased trading and has no prior convictions, specific deterrence plays no role in sentencing, but general deterrence remains significant given the importance of proper hazardous chemical management in workplaces.
