WorkSafe fines in WA are uninsurable.

Recent workplace safety prosecutions in Western Australia have underscored that serious WHS breaches are not only a legal and compliance concern, but can also have serious financial consequences that threaten business continuity. This is especially important for smaller businesses, farms and regional operators that may have limited cash reserves and substantial value tied up in land, plant or seasonal production rather than readily available funds.

Business News reported on 8 October 2026 that eight WA companies collectively owed $6.2 million in unpaid workplace safety fines. According to that report, six of the companies had been fined during the preceding two years and, in several cases, the company had entered liquidation with no realistic capacity to pay the penalty.

That does not mean liquidation is a solution, or that an unpaid fine has no deterrent effect. The wider consequences can include the loss of the business, employees losing their jobs, creditors receiving less, and separate proceedings against individual officers. The more useful lesson is that WHS risk must be managed as a real threat to the organisation and its decision-makers, not merely as another insurable operating risk. Fines under the previous legislation, including in cases involving serious injury or death, were criticised as being low enough to be treated as another cost of doing business rather than a meaningful deterrent. The current legislation, and the penalties being imposed, are showing considerably more teeth. Strong deterrents are essential to reinforce the seriousness of WHS obligations and protect workers. However, the financial impact can fall disproportionately on smaller businesses, where a substantial fine may threaten the viability of the business itself.

• A business cannot lawfully insure against a fine imposed for an offence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) (WHS Act).
• A body corporate convicted of industrial manslaughter can face a maximum fine of $10 million, while other WHS offences also carry substantial penalties.
• A corporate fine does not automatically become a director’s debt, but directors and other officers can be prosecuted for breaching their own due diligence duties.
• If a company goes into liquidation, a corporate fine may never be recovered. But the consequences remain: the business may close, employees may lose their jobs, and officers may still face separate personal liability.
• Farming and agribusiness warrant particular attention because of the high-risk environments in which they operate, their injury and fatality rate in comparison to other sectors, linked to the nature of the work, remote locations, reliance on mobile and fixed plant, contractor and employment arrangements and requirements and periods of intense seasonal work.

No. Section 272A (of the WHS Act) makes an insurance policy ineffective to the extent that it would indemnify a person against liability to pay a fine for an offence under the WHS Act. It also prohibits arrangements designed to provide that form of indemnity and the giving or receiving of a benefit under them, and penalties apply for contravention of this section.

The prohibition applies to the fine itself. Depending on the policy terms, insurance may still respond to some investigation or defence costs. Businesses should review their cover with their broker and legal advisers rather than assume that their policy/ies will meet these costs.
The maximum penalty for industrial manslaughter is $10 million for a body corporate. For an individual, the maximum is 20 years’ imprisonment and a $5 million fine. Industrial manslaughter requires proof of the elements set out in the Act; it does not apply to every fatal incident. Category 1, 2 and 3 offences apply to other forms of non-compliance and also carry significant penalties.

A company’s financial position is relevant at sentencing, but it must be put before the court properly. Section 53 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) requires a court, as far as practicable, to consider the offender’s means and the burden that payment of the fine will impose when deciding the amount. A company facing prosecution should obtain early advice about the financial evidence required.

If a company later enters an insolvent winding-up, section 553B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) provides that court-imposed penalties and fines for offences are generally not admissible to proof against the company. The amount imposed generally sits outside the collective pool of provable debts and while the fine remains a liability of the company, the regulator may be unable to participate in the ordinary proof-of-debt process and obtain payment in satisfaction or partial satisfaction of the penalty.

It should not be mistaken for a clean escape. Liquidation usually means the end of the enterprise in its existing form and can carry serious consequences for employees, creditors, licences, contracts and the people behind the business. A fine imposed on the company is not automatically transferred to a director, but any separate liability of an officer remains a separate question.

Under section 27 of the WHS Act, an officer must exercise due diligence to ensure the business complies with its duties. WorkSafe’s guidance for officers explains that this includes maintaining current WHS knowledge, understanding the operations and their hazards, ensuring appropriate resources and processes are available and used, responding to safety information, and verifying compliance.

This is a proactive and continuing duty. An officer cannot satisfy it merely by approving a policy, engaging a safety consultant or assuming that an operations manager has the issue under control. The officer must take reasonable steps to verify that the systems and controls operate in practice. An officer may be prosecuted for failing to exercise due diligence whether or not the company is convicted.

What to do:

Focus efforts on existing obligations while monitoring commencement dates, transitional provisions and new ACMA guidance. Assess the likely impact of a new standard on contracts, sales incentives in staff remuneration, customer processes, compliance reporting and governance. Review claims about pricing, coverage and service performance to ensure they are accurate and supported by evidence, and maintain record-keeping to meet ongoing reporting obligations.

The risk is not theoretical. WorkSafe’s latest ten-year fatality report records 44 work-related fatalities in agriculture, forestry and fishing between 2015–16 and 2024–25. That equates to approximately 13 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming accounted for 29 of the 44 fatalities, and vehicle incidents were the most common recorded.

Farms also operate differently from many conventional workplaces. The home and workplace may overlap. Family members, seasonal workers, contractors, labour-hire workers and visitors may all be present. Work can involve tractors, vehicles, augers, conveyors, silos, chemicals, livestock, electricity and remote locations, often under significant time and weather pressure. Familiarity with those conditions can make a risk feel ordinary without making it legally acceptable.

The WHS Act uses a broad concept of a worker. WorkSafe confirms that it can include employees, contractors, subcontractors, apprentices, trainees, labour-hire workers and volunteers. Engaging a contractor does not remove the farm operator’s duties. Where more than one business has duties in relation to the same work, those businesses must consult, cooperate and coordinate.

In April 2025, a regional hay processing company was fined $595,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries in a hay press. An external safety consultant had previously identified the unguarded area. WorkSafe’s prosecution summary records that a mesh guard fitted after the incident cost approximately $1,000. The case demonstrates the difference between identifying a hazard and ensuring that an effective control is actually implemented.

In August 2025, the Western Australian Meat Marketing Co-operative was fined $785,000 following a worker’s death at its Katanning abattoir. The worker was drawn into the unguarded opening of a cake press during a daily shutdown procedure. The incident again placed plant guarding and the way routine work is performed at the centre of the prosecution.

These cases arose in agricultural processing rather than identical on-farm settings, but the lessons translate directly: known plant hazards, informal workarounds and routine tasks can become the foundation of a serious prosecution.

1. Identify all duty holders. Confirm which entities are PCBUs and who may be an officer. Family ownership, trusts, partnerships and operating companies can make the answer less obvious than the organisational chart suggests.
2. Put WHS on the governance agenda. Officers should receive useful information about hazards, incidents, corrective actions and overdue controls, then verify that the necessary resources and processes are being used.
3. Act on known hazards. Audit reports, near misses, maintenance records and worker concerns require accountable follow-up. Record who will implement each control, by when, and how completion will be verified.
4. Test work as it is actually performed. A written procedure is not enough if workers routinely take a shortcut to clear a blockage, bypass a guard or keep plant operating during maintenance. Observe the task and consult the people who perform it.
5. Manage seasonal and contractor risk. Induct, train and supervise casual workers, family members and contractors. Coordinate duties with other businesses and make authority to stop unsafe work clear.
6. Plan for pressure periods. Harvest, extreme weather, labour shortages and long hours can change the risk profile. Physical and psychosocial hazards, including fatigue, should be considered together.
7. Prepare for an incident before one occurs. Know who will make any required notification, preserve the site and documents, deal with inspectors, communicate with workers and obtain legal advice. The immediate priority remains protecting people and making the site safe.
8. Understand the insurance boundary. Check what cover may be available for investigation and defence costs, but budget and govern on the basis that a WHS fine itself cannot be insured.
9. Get Help. There are lots of advisers and resources available to help ensure farms and ag businesses meet current safety compliance standards and duties.