New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2011 - SECT 244B

244B State of mind

(1) If it is necessary to establish a state of mind of a body corporate in relation to the commission of an offence, it is sufficient to show--

(a) the body corporate's board of directors--

(i) intentionally, knowingly or recklessly engaged in the relevant conduct, or

(ii) expressly, tacitly or impliedly authorised or permitted the carrying out of the conduct, or

(b) an authorised person--

(i) intentionally, knowingly or recklessly engaged in the relevant conduct, or

(ii) expressly, tacitly or impliedly authorised or permitted the carrying out of the conduct, or

(c) a corporate culture existed within the body corporate that directed, encouraged, tolerated or led to the carrying out of the conduct.

(1A) For subsection (1), having a state of mind in relation to the commission of an offence does not include engaging in conduct with gross negligence.

(2) Subsection (1)(b) and (c) do not apply if the body corporate proves it took reasonable precautions to prevent--

(a) the conduct, or

(b) the authorisation or permission of the conduct.

(3) Factors relevant to the application of subsection (1)(c) include--

(a) whether authority or permission to carry out conduct of the same or a similar character, had previously been given by a corporate officer, and

(b) whether the person who carried out the conduct believed on reasonable grounds, or had a reasonable expectation, that a corporate officer would have authorised or permitted the carrying out of the conduct.

(4) In this section--

"corporate culture" means 1 or more attitudes, policies, rules, courses of conduct or practices existing within the body corporate generally or in the part of the body corporate in which the relevant activity takes place.

"corporate officer" means an officer within the meaning of section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth other than a partner in a partnership.