Today’s question comes from South Australia where, as: 

… in other states there are harsher maximum penalties applied to various offences against emergency service workers than if they were an ordinary member of the public. With that in mind, if an emergency service worker was injured by a member of the public in the course of their official duty, (ie an assault as outlined in SA Legislation, Section 20AA of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935), does the worker have a duty to report this to police? Is this duty greater than if they were assaulted as an ordinary member of the public with lesser penalties? Furthermore, what obligation is to force them to report the injury through Work Health and Safety legislation? Can an injured emergency worker decide to not report it at all to anyone? What is the legal duty of another member of their crew or team?

Police

The starting point is that, in the absence of some specific statutory duty, no-one has an obligation to report a crime to police or to cooperate with a police investigation.  Many people will not want to report that they are a victim of crime to police for many varied and legitimate reasons.  

If we look to the South Australian law, s 20AA provides for offences against a ‘prescribed emergency worker’ with maximum penalties ranging from 5 years imprisonment (for assault) to 15 years for intentionally causing harm.  There is nothing in that section giving rise to an obligation to report.

The Criminal Law Consolidation Act does provide two offences of ‘fail to report’ they are s 64A failing to report suspected child sexual abuse, and s 179 failing to report finding human remains. Neither of those are relevant to today’s question. 

The Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s 316 makes it an offence, in that state, to conceal a ‘serious indictable offence’ but I can find no equivalent provision in South Australia. 

The website for Victims of Crime South Australia says ‘It is your decision to report a crime, but the police always encourage victims of a crime to report them’.  I can find no law that would compel anyone to report a crime in SA. 

Work Health and Safety

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) there is an obligation upon a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (a PCBU) to report to the regulator, SafeWork SA, any event that causes the death of or serious injury to a person (s 35).  A serious injury is any injury that, inter alia, requires immediate hospital treatment (s 36 definition of ‘serious injury’). To allow the PCBU to meet this duty it may have an incident reporting system that requires workers to report any event that causes a serious injury. 

A worker is under a duty (s 28) to:

(a) …

(b) …

(c) comply, so far as the worker is reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction that is given by the person conducting the business or undertaking to allow the person to comply with this Act; and

(d) co-operate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the person conducting the business or undertaking relating to health or safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers.

It would follow that a worker would have a duty to report to their employer if they are a victim of a crime whilst at work and that has caused a serious injury and, in order to meet their obligation the PCBU required employees to report any serious injury sustained at work. 

The Return to Work Act 2014 (SA) s 16 says:

If a worker suffers a work injury, notice of that injury must be given—

(a) to the employer by whom the worker is employed at the time of the occurrence of the injury;

A work injury is an injury that ‘arises out of or in the course of employment and the employment was a significant contributing cause of the injury’.  A prescribed emergency worker who is assaulted whilst at work and in the course of performing their duties in circumstances that would meet the offence definitions in s 20AA would, I suggest, have suffered a ‘work injury’. Failure to lodge a notice would have an impact on any subsequent application for workers’ compensation or for modified duties to assist in their return to work (s 18). 

The questions asked

I can then separate the questions asked:

Does the worker have a duty to report this to police? No. 

Is this duty greater than if they were assaulted as an ordinary member of the public with lesser penalties? No. 

Furthermore, what obligation is to force them to report the injury through Work Health and Safety legislation?The PCBU has a duty to report any serious injury that occurs to a worker at work.  That would cover a worker who has been assaulted so there may be a duty (s 28) to report an incident that causes a serious injury if the PCBU has a reporting system and policy in place. 

If a worker fails to give notice of injury as required by the Return to Work Act he or she will not be eligible for workers compensation or other assistance to return to work.

Can an injured emergency worker decide to not report it at all to anyone? Practically, yes and certainly ‘yes’ if they are not injured. 

What is the legal duty of another member of their crew or team? To support their colleague and in accordance with the employer’s procedures complete an incident report and encourage their colleague to do the same. 

This blog is a general discussion of legal principles only.  It is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information here to make decisions regarding your legal position or to make decisions that affect your legal rights or responsibilities. For advice on your particular circumstances always consult an admitted legal practitioner in your state or territory.