WorkSafe New Zealand v Waste Management NZ Limited [2021] NZHC 3444
There are few decisions in New Zealand which have looked at what conduct will amount to recklessness in the context of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (the Act). This is why the recent High Court decision, declining WorkSafe’s application for leave to appeal the District Court’s decision, is so important.
Read MoreOcean Fisheries Limited v Maritime New Zealand [2021] NZHC 2083
The High Court has recently dismissed Ocean Fisheries’ appeal against the amount of reparation for emotional harm imposed by the District Court following the death of three crew members of the Jubilee when it sank in 2015. The Court also allowed Maritime NZ’s cross-appeal against the District Court’s decision not to order emotional harm reparation be paid to a sister of one of the crew members.
The decision extensively considers the nature of the courts’ jurisdiction to order reparation including the quantum of such orders, who is entitled to an order, and the consequences of any voluntary payments.
Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning to law firm Kidd Legal under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act). This is the first formal warning issued to the legal sector under this legislation.
Ministry of Workplace Relations and Safety, Andrew Little, has ordered WorkSafe to seek external legal advice from Crown Law or Crown Solicitors whenever a Coroner recommends that WorkSafe consider a prosecution or reconsider its decision not to prosecute.
Read MoreDept of Internal Affairs v OTT Trading Group Ltd [2020] NZHC 1663
In this decision, the Department of Internal Affairs (the Department) claimed that between May 2014 and April 2019, OTT Trading Group (OTT) and MSI Group Limited (MSI) breached their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (the Act).
Maritime New Zealand v Fullers Group Ltd [2020] NZDC 10157
The lesser known alternative to a traditional fine given under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is the use of health and safety project orders.
Read MoreIn yet another instance of a non-financial sanction given under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), a court-ordered enforceable undertaking pursuant to s156 of the HSWA has been imposed for the first time in New Zealand, instead of a traditional fine.
Read MoreR v Brisbane Auto Recycling Pty Ltd & Ors [2020] QDC 113
In our February 2020 issue of In Brief, we discussed how two further Australian jurisdictions (Victoria and the Northern Territory) had passed workplace manslaughter laws. Now, Australia has had its first workplace manslaughter sentence. The sentence was imposed in Queensland, pursuant to workplace manslaughter laws, which have been in force since 2017 following an amendment to Queensland’s Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011.
Read MoreGDC v Aratu Forestry Ltd
This recent sentencing decision is notable for two reasons. First, because of the large fine imposed on a forestry company for breaching the Resource Management Act 1993 (RMA), and second – perhaps more interestingly – because the Court ordered the defendants to pay a significant sum in reparations to affected persons for emotional harm. While reparation payments are common for other kinds of offences, they are uncommon for convictions under the RMA. The case also raises issues such as whether a defendant is insured for reparation payments, and, if so, which insurance policy will provide cover?
Workplace manslaughter (also referred to as industrial/corporate manslaughter) has been an offence in the United Kingdom since 2008. Closer to home, Victoria and the Northern Territory have joined the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Queensland as the latest Australian jurisdictions to pass workplace manslaughter laws.
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