Australia's first mining industrial manslaughter conviction

In March 2026, Mastermyne Crinum Operations Pty Ltd became the first company convicted of industrial manslaughter under Queensland's Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999, following a fatal roof collapse at the Crinum underground mine in September 2021. In May it was sentenced to a $7 million fine plus $299,000 in costs — substantially above Australia's previous record work health and safety penalty.

Source: Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer — Australia safety update: key developments January–June 2026

The penalties behind it

From 1 July 2026 the model maximum penalty for industrial manslaughter is $21,274,000 for a body corporate and 20 years' imprisonment for an individual. New South Wales carries the highest in the country at $20 million and 25 years. In April 2026, NSW also recorded its first gross negligence verdict under a Category 1 offence, against Young Mining Company, after a worker suffered severe crush and spinal injuries.

Source: Safe Work Australia — maximum monetary penalties under the WHS laws

What a board should take from it

Individual liability is the part that has changed in substance. Officers carry a due diligence duty that cannot be delegated, and the evidence for it is ordinary: what you were told, when, what you asked for, and what you did about it. Minutes that record a safety report being "noted" are not evidence of due diligence. Minutes that record a decision, a resource and a date are.

ISO 45001 does not prevent a prosecution and no consultancy should suggest it does. What a working system produces is the record — hazard identification kept current, incidents investigated including near misses, competence evidenced, drills actually run — which is the difference between a defensible position and an indefensible one.