Regulators publicise information about their enforcement actions in order to raise awareness of work health and safety laws and the consequences of non-compliance, thereby deterring people from engaging in similar conduct and promoting better practices.
Examples of the ways regulators may publicise information about enforcement actions are:
- Summarising cases on their websites
- speaking to the media and sending press releases about a case
- using a case as a teaching tool at seminars, conferences and in materials distributed to various groups
- using information about a case in the regulators’ publications, and
- using information from a case to gather and publish data and statistics.
At any stage of an inspection, audit, investigation or prosecution, regulators may disclose information about a case for the purposes of preventing similar offences from occurring.
The regulators may also disclose information about a case to the public at any time where they consider that it is necessary to quell speculation or to correct or forestall inaccurate media reports.
In the case of enforceable undertakings, regulators are required to publish a notice of a decision to accept an undertaking and the reasons for that decision. At all times, regulators aim to be accurate, impartial, balanced and fair in the way in which they communicate about investigations, inspections, audits and enforcement actions