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Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: Breaking the law: OZschwitz poLICE Force fined $350,000 for workplace safety breaches Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:55 pm | |
| The NSW Police Force has been branded a serial offender for workplace safety breaches.
The force has been hit with a fine of $350,000 for exposing several police officers to hazardous substances while conducting an audit of drug exhibits in the drug vault at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills.
Justice Roger Boland, of the NSW Industrial Court, noted that ''the defendant has an unenviable record of contravening the act. It has eight convictions in the space of 11 years''.
Drugs seized by police are tagged and stored in the vault in the Surry Hills police centre until the relevant matter has been dealt with in court and any appeal is finalised.
The court heard that Room 1803 is the medium-security drug exhibit vault, and room 1804, next door, is a high-security vault. There were more than 200,000 individual items in the vaults to be sorted through.
On March 18, 2009, three police officers were conducting an audit of drug exhibits. One of them opened a cardboard box and lifted out an exhibit bag containing a beige powder. The seal on the exhibit was broken and the vapours caused an ''immediate burning sensation to their eyes, nose (sinus) and throat'', the court heard.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-police-force-fined-350000-for-workplace-safety-breaches-20140406-366rc.html#ixzz2y9LEJO4V |
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