SafeWork SA has created a new compliance and enforcement tool. 

The state authority says its inspectors will now be able to use news cautions to provide a formal reminder to individuals, businesses and organisations to improve safety and support more severe penalties if they repeatedly breach safety laws.

The regulator’s compliance and enforcement tools are currently used to compel a duty holder to remedy any identified contravention, and in some cases sanction them.

Where a SafeWork SA inspector identifies a breach that warrants an expiable offence they will consider issuing a notice which includes a fine.

Alternatively, they may issue a cautionary expiation notice, which doesn’t include a monetary fine.

The level of risk associated with a hazard and the safety history of the business, organisation or individual will determine the severity of any penalty.

Expiation notices can attract fines of up to $3,600 for a business or organisation and $720 for an individual.

Expiations are designed to streamline the process of dealing with minor offences to reduce the burden on the courts.

Safety breaches where a prosecution is warranted will continue to be dealt with by the courts.

SafeWork SA introduced cautionary expiations in late 2023 and says it is now embedding them into its suite of tools.