Breaches of duties of care under most Australian OHS laws are summary offences.283 In such cases, prosecutions are heard by a magistrate or a judge without a jury. Victoria provides for more serious offences (as measured by the size of penalty284) to be indictable offences (heard by a judge and jury) and all OHS duty of care breaches are stipulated to be indictable. It is possible for such indictable offences to be heard as a summary proceeding.285 This alternative is subject to a number of conditions, which differ according to whether the defendant is a natural person or a corporation.286 South Australia also provides that an offence of endangering persons in a workplace is indictable.287 The following table sets out the existing position.
