By Oliver Lees
The Department of Justice and Community Safety has been fined $100,000 following two assaults on youth justice workers by children at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct.
On November 4, a sentence hearing was held in the Melbourne Magistrates Court after the department pled guilty to two charges of failing to provide an appropriately safe working environment for its staff.
A youth justice worker was unable to work for four months following an incident with a child, who struck the worker with a guitar in one of the precinct’s courtyards.
The incident, which occurred in January 2018, left the youth justice worker with serious head and shoulder injuries that required surgery.
The court ruled that the department had failed to provide a safe environment for the employee to do their work and did not ensure their safety by informing them on the restrictions related to the access of guitars in the facility.
In another incident, a youth justice worker was left with severe burns after a child poured hot liquid on his face. The child also punched and kicked the worker in a corridor of the precinct.
The youth justice worker later developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident.
The court ruled that it was reasonable for the department to provide a system of work to enforce the rule that no hot drinks were to be taken out of the facility’s kitchen area.
WorkSafe health and safety executive director Narelle Beer said the department could have prevented these incidents.
“It’s not good enough for an employer to have workplace policies and procedures in place if their employees are not made aware of them or not properly instructed on how they should be applied,” Dr Beer said.
“This is an important reminder to all duty holders that they must keep doing everything in their power to address the risks to the health and safety of their employees as they emerge.”
