MSF Sugar Pty Ltd has been charged with industrial manslaughter under the Electrical Safety Act 2002, following an incident near Little Mulgrave in far north Queensland in July 2019. The worker was fatally electrocuted after a crane contacted or came in close proximity to overhead powerlines in the course of work on a crane rail system.

Queensland’s independent work health and safety prosecutor, Aaron Guilfoyle, has also charged the company with a Category 2 offence under the Electrical Safety Act, for breaching an electrical safety duty and exposing multiple workers to a risk of serious injury or death. The charge relates to the same incident and carries a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.

The maximum penalty for industrial manslaughter is a fine of $10 million. This is the first prosecution for industrial manslaughter under the Electrical Safety Act since its introduction in 2017. The charges against MSF Sugar will be mentioned in the Cairns Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 7 September 2021. No other charges are expected to be laid over the incident.