By Bronwyn Hastings

Hindmarsh Shire Council  leaders are considering whether staff will wear body-worn cameras for safety.

The council is working through community feedback following a consultation period of a draft policy for the use of the cameras.

The consultation period, from March 7 to 21, gathered feedback through an online survey, as well as by verbal and written submissions.

The primary purpose of the body-worn cameras is to create a safe work environment for employees, while upholding privacy rights.

Chief executive Monica Revell said as with all workplaces, the safety and wellbeing of staff was paramount.

“Our health and safety committee, alongside our management team, are concerned about the frequency and severity of instances of verbal harassment and abuse experienced by staff when working in the community,” she said.

Hindmarsh council is not the first to look at using body-worn cameras, with several other councils across the state implementing them in recent years.

Cameras might be worn by authorised, chief executive-approved officers, usually in environmental health, planning enforcement and local laws, when undertaking enforcement activity in the community. 

Officers would be trained in safe and compliant use of the cameras and would only activate them in specific instances.

“Working in isolation, the occurrence of harassment and abuse are significant risks to the health and safety of council staff,” Mrs Revell said.

“Given the scope of our operations and staff resource limitations, we must think proactively and progressively about safety initiatives that reduce the risk of occupational violence to staff working alone in high-risk situations.”

Access, storage and retention will be in line with Freedom of Information Act 1982, Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, Public Records Act 1973 and the council’s own privacy policy. 

Information that is not relevant to an investigation and where no other legislation applies would be deleted after 90 days.

The council has delayed its decision regarding the policy to ensure adequate time is given to consider community concerns.

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