Administrative penalties and fines
It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure their workplaces are healthy and safe.
Safety officers can issue administrative penalties against an employer, owner, supervisor, supplier or worker for contraventions of the Workers' Safety and Compensation Act and Workplace Health and Safety Regulations.
Those who do not comply with the Act and the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations contribute to more workplace injuries. This may result in lower morale and lost productivity. Workplace injuries can lead to increased assessment rates for all employers, including those who are following the law.
Employers have told us they want to see consequences that encourage their competitors to not cut corners on safety.
Those employers who receive penalties are named in the administrative penalties report. When supervisors or workers are issued administrative penalties, employers are not named with their supervisors or workers on the report if they have taken all reasonable measures to ensure prevent the incident related to the administrative penalties issued to their employees. This prevents any negative impact on a business that is in compliance.
Administrative penalties, 2015 to present
We publish this report of Workplace Health and Safety administrative penalties on this website to encourage employers, supervisors and workers to improve adherence to health and safety laws.
Base amounts for workplace health and safety administrative penalties
The following table describes the base amounts for administrative penalties issued by Workplace Health and Safety branch.
| Employer | Supervisor | Worker |
| $2,500 | $750 | $150 |
Prosecution
If you commit an offence under the Act, you may be subject to prosecution, potential fines and imprisonment.
Fines for a first offence can be up to $500,000 and in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine of $50,000 per day. For a second offence the fine can be up to $1,000,000 and in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine of $100,000 per day. Imprisonment varies and can be up to 48 months.
If a person is convicted under the Act, rather than ordering fines or imprisonment and depending on the nature of the offence, the court may order that person to take an action that furthers the goal of achieving healthy and safe workplaces.