Joke costs the police $150,000
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By Michael Pelly Legal Reporter
November 21, 2005
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The police force has been fined $150,000 after a radio technician was forced into early retirement when a senior officer set off a siren as a practical joke.
Anthony Hutchins suffers acute acoustic trauma and wears a noise generator in his right ear after an incident that has left him to survive on workers' compensation benefits.
The police have promised to introduce training programs on the safe use of sirens after being criticised in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission this month for a "completely inadequate approach to the problem of noise in the workplace".
Justice Roger Boland said Mr Hutchins was inspecting a winch near the front of a police four-wheel-drive in December 2001 at the radio network services workshop at Waratah in Newcastle with Senior Constable Eric Bell.
His right ear was about 30 to 50 centimetres from the 100-watt siren's speaker when Senior Constable Bell set it off for about two seconds.
Justice Boland described it as a "foolish practical joke" but said a noise control policy would have alerted the officer to the potential consequences.
Mr Hutchins was medically retired in June 2003 and has not been employed since.
He wears the noise generator every day to mask his tinnitus, can no longer interact on a normal social level, and an "enormous strain" had been placed on his marriage.
Justice Boland said the "payments he receives from workers' compensation are inadequate and he and his family are under severe financial strain".
Despite this, he said, there had been no apology or remorse shown by police.
"Given the seriousness of the injury to Mr Hutchins and the [police's] failure, I am very surprised at the lack of contrition," Justice Boland said.
He fined the police force $150,000 for not ensuring a safe system of work.
Link:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/jok ... 48440.html
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