South Australia’s Department for Education has been fined $225,000 after a student was seriously injured in a fall from a broken swing in a school playground.
The Department for Education pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the South Australian Employment Court on 8 October 2025 after a SafeWork SA prosecution.
The incident occurred on 25 August 2021, when a 16-year-old student was using a playground swing at Port Augusta Special School.
One of the swing’s severely worn supporting bolts broke, throwing the student to the ground, resulting in significant head injuries.
The SafeWork SA investigation found that 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 5 per cent of its cross-section remained.
Testing confirmed there was no manufacturing defect in the worn shackle.
The court found that damage to the shackle likely occurred gradually over multiple annual inspection periods after a brass bush failed. The failed bush and worn bolt were readily identifiable on inspection.
The school’s playground equipment was installed in 2012. None of the playground equipment was ever given a comprehensive annual inspection in the eight years prior to the offence. Nor did any of the quarterly inspections include the load bearing moving parts of the swings.
The applicable Australian Standard allows a maximum three-month period between inspections of the shackles and bearings. The Australian Standard was never correctly applied or followed by the Department for Education in the eight years prior to the offence.
The school’s playground equipment was immediately fenced off after the incident and later decommissioned. A new playground was installed at a cost of about $290,000.
Prior to the incident, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport had written to the Department for Education, outlining the Australian Standard’s recommended minimum quarterly inspection of moving parts of playground equipment.
The Department for Education was charged with one count of breaching its primary safety duty contrary to section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA).
A conviction was recorded and the Department for Education was fined $225,000 following a reduction by 10 per cent for its guilty plea.
The Department for Education was also ordered to pay a contribution to SafeWork SA’s legal costs of $2,310, and a Victim of Crime Levy of $437.
Source: SafeWork SA
