SA Department for Education fined over boy’s horrific injuries at Port Augusta Special School
An autistic boy who suffered horrific injuries after a fall from a broken swing in a school was offered no compensation by the “self interested” Education Department.
An autistic student suffered “horrific” injuries in a fall from a broken swing in a school playground and has been left devastated by his scars.
The Department for Education was fined $225,000 in the South Australian Employment Court earlier this month and slammed for failing to accept full responsibility.
During sentencing, the court heard a 16-year-old student was using a playground swing at Port Augusta Special School on August 25, 2021 when one of the swing’s severely worn supporting bolts broke.
The student was thrown and landed on his head about 2.5m from the swing, suffering serious head injuries.
He remained in hospital for three days.
“The father describes the facial injuries as ‘horrific’,” Deputy President Stephen Lieschke said.
“His son’s forehead was degloved to his hairline, his eyelids were ‘hanging off’, and some tear ducts were severed.”
The court heard the victim now has to wear glasses and has very noticeable scars, which he is “devastated” by when he looks at them.
The boy’s father said his son “used that swing at every opportunity he got to help him through his day” and after the incident his son’s autistic symptoms “ramped up”.
A SafeWork SA investigation found the swing failed because one of the two shackle bolts that supported the swing’s chains had worn down over years of use so that only five per cent of its cross-section remained.
The school’s playground equipment was installed in 2012 and none of the playground equipment was ever given a comprehensive annual inspection in the eight years prior to the incident.
The applicable Australian Standard allows a maximum three-month period between inspections of the shackles and bearings, which was never correctly followed by the Department for Education.
The school’s playground equipment was immediately fenced off after the incident and a new playground was installed at a cost of about $290,000.
There have not been any similar subsequent incidents since.
The Department for Education pleaded guilty to one count of breaching its primary safety duty.
The court heard the father sought psychological help for his son from the school but they declined to assist.
“The defendant did not voluntarily pay any reparations, restitution, or compensation to the victim, and it opposed the court awarding any compensation to the victim because it did not wish to use any of its public funds for this purpose,” Mr Lieschke said.
“By this self-interested stance, the defendant avoided accepting full responsibility for the serious harm its offending caused to a vulnerable child placed in its care.”
Mr Lieschke said the school leaders had no control of and were not responsible for the Department’s defective safety system as they didn’t know about the comprehensive annual inspection requirement
He convicted and fined the Department for Education $225,000.
SafeWork SA Executive Director Glenn Farrell said playgrounds were supposed to be a safe place for development and learning.
“If not inspected, critical components will wear beyond their design life, and it will only be a matter of time before a failure occurs, which may result in a serious injury, as did so in this case,” he said.
The department’s chief executive, Martin Westwell recently wrote to the affected family to extend his regrets and apologies.
In an official statement, a spokesperson from the Department of Education said they “sincerly (apologise)” for the incident and have made “extensive changes” to their processes around school and preschool playground management.
“We now have a centralised approach to manage annual, comprehensive inspections of outdoor learning environments and play equipment across all school and preschool sites,” they said.
“All sites now have an annual inspection conducted by trained and competent contractors who are independent from playground equipment suppliers, retailers, and manufacturers, eliminating any conflicts of interest.
“This centralised approach is designed to ensure more consistent safety standards and reduce risk.”
They also said that the department has enacted a training program for staff who conduct daily and quarterly playround assessments which best equips them “with the information they need to identify risks associated with playgrounds”.
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Originally published as SA Department for Education fined over boy’s horrific injuries at Port Augusta Special School
