Cranbourne man feels snooping is unfair

BY CATHERINE WATSON 17 Oct, 2011 04:00 AM

A CRANBOURNE man injured at work was shocked to find a private investigator had tailed and filmed him shopping and walking his children to school.

The man, who did not wish to be named, only learned about the surveillance after his solicitor put in a freedom of information request to WorkSafe for any surveillance material relating to his injury claim.

Angela Kearney of Slater & Gordon said when she showed him the footage he was particularly distressed that his children had been filmed.

"It didn't feel right," he said. "It's not fair to my children and family for them to be filmed and be involved. I'm injured but they make you feel like you've done the wrong thing. I just want to get better and go back to work."

Ms Kearney said her firm had acted for hundreds of injured workers in the Casey-Dandenong area, of whom many had been spied on by investigators working for insurance companies contracted to WorkSafe, whose guidelines stipulated surveillance should only be used where there was some suspicion of fraud.

Ms Kearney said her clients had expressed fear and frustration after discovering they had been filmed while engaging in everyday activities that had no bearing on their injuries.

"It's a frightening experience, knowing that people are hiding in cars around corners, filming them walking their children to school, on family outings or doing the shopping.

"This unwarranted and unnecessary surveillance often makes injured workers feel as though they are being treated as criminals."

Figures released by WorkSafe showed that in 2010-11 it spent $13.7 million watching 6675 people who had made claims over workplace injuries. The surveillance resulted in the prosecution of just 18 people.

"In our experience, it is rare that surveillance investigation leads to a worker being prosecuted or a claim being reduced or dropped," Ms Kearney said.

"Often we see cases where we know surveillance has been undertaken but the film is ultimately never relied upon and the money spent is of no value to anyone."

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said surveillance was not carried out as a matter of course but where there was a discrepancy, or an issue had been raised, sometimes as a result of a call from the public.

"There are about 90,000 people on the system and 29,000 new people every year. Any business checks its outgoings. It's part of due diligence."

He said surveillance was not solely to stop people who were doing the wrong thing but also to look at their capacity for work. "They might not be able to go back to their old job but they might be capable of some work."