My regular correspondent, Dodge, has written. He says:
I think I touched on this subject before but I have found an article that relates to legislative controls about the use of an dissemination of on scene photos while this article is American I would like your input on whether such legislation is needed here and your thoughts on the article in general as it relates to Australian law.
The link for this article is http://www.ems1.com/legislation-funding/articles/1332280-Why-we-shouldnt-need-laws-on-scene-photo-sharing/
It’s a good article and worth reading. Do I think such legislation is needed here? As the author of the article, David Givot, says “As for the new law in N.J., it makes terrific sense. If you don’t want such a law in your state, don’t give your legislature a reason to pass one.”
I’m not familiar of cases where emergency responders have taken photos and then distributed them online. In the absence of any problem, a legislature is unlikely to see passing such a law as important, but if responders start taking and distributing these sorts of photos, then the need for such a law may become apparent. The issue is probably not so important when, as in Australia, responders are largely employees or volunteers of government agencies and so are subject to internal discipline by the government. It would be different if there was a large supply of private ambulance and fire companies who were not subject to direct government control and so the government may feel the need to regulate them and their staff by law, as it could not do so directly by terminating their employment or ability to volunteer.
Divot’s recommendations, to ensure that this does not become an issue, make good sense. He says: .
- Make sure your agency has a written policy regarding any on-scene photography: Who, how, why, when.
- Establish security measures and procedures that strictly control and track all images captured.
- Do not, under any circumstance, transmit scene photographs electronically to anyone for any reason.
- Designate specific individuals authorized to capture images on an emergency scene.
- Specify the image-capturing device. Do NOT use any device capable of transmitting data or images electronically, such as tablets or cell phones.
I have previously noted that the NSW State Rescue Board has a photographic policy as part of the State Rescue Policy (see http://emergency.nsw.gov.au/media/1494.pdf, clause 1.55 and Appendix B).
Michael Eburn.
Australian Emergency Law 
Very interesting article.
I have found the use of images captured on scene helpful in my continuing education of pre hospital care.
There is many images taken at scenes and also in the hopital environment which are used as discussion pieces amoungst pre hospital care and nursing staff worldwide in open internet forums.
From memory I have only seen a couple of images that I recognise as Australian; these having patients faces or registration details blurred with the exception being an edition of Australian Police Journal.
Every patient has a right to privacy however and I can understand the basis for the argument.
Love your posts! Keep up the great work.
Michael,
Several years ago, I was a Regional Officer with the Victoria State Emergency Service and recall an incident where a unit on the northern outskirts of the metropolitian region did a display at a community display.
Photographs depicted various training and operational incidents in this promotion that included windstorm damage, flood response and road accident rescue (RAR).
One such photograph showed a damaged vehicle. The registration plate was indentifable. The vehicle was owned by a local who died as a result of the accident. His parents went to the fete and saw the photograph. You can imagine the horror and distress these people must have felt. This unit was chastised previously for having similar photos on a board in the training hall.
That was in the early 1990s, now with social media being utilised for many things in our community, Facebook and Twitter seem to the the main conduit of instantanious amatuer reporting and psuedo journalism.
A associate of mine who became an ambulance officer with QAS often would post photos of her jobs on her Facebook page. Several volunteer members of a Pilbara region St John Ambulance station did the same. Children are often depicted in various community programs without permission or authority as well. although the state Education Departments have policies in place often these are enforced.
Being an NGO such as St John Ambulance (WA) Inc that is contracted to provide ambulance services to Western Australia, it is not governed by any “Ambulance Act”, therefore, as you stated in your article governed by state govermnent policy in relation to such matters. The private military contractors in US declared war zones were also not bound by US Govt laws and policies or war crimes acts where sworn military staff are. Many photographs were leaked to the mainstream and social media recently from the Middle eastern conflict.
It is a well documented in psychological studies about “souveniring”. Serial killers, such as Ivan Milat and Jeffery Dahmer would keep items or even body parts of victims as a reminder. Photographic images of incidents could be classed as the same, if not used for evidentary or training purposes.
There is a need of strict administrive controls and possibily legislation put into place in all organisations that deal with matters of an extrememly traumatic and sensitive nature.
I also found the article worthwhile hence I wished an Australian context put on it, while it could quite successfully argued that such scene photos could be used as an in house educational tool I do feel that there is no need for this type of use.
I have always felt that the only people that should be authorised to take on scene images are those people employed by relevant authorities (I.e police, fire investigators) that do so to investigate the cause of an accident. Other than that no person should be taking photos of a scene especially if those photos can readily identify the victims.