$100,000 For Skin Cancer Victim
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday July 23, 1992
MELBOURNE: The widow and children of a bricklayer who allegedly contracted a fatal skin cancer caused by his work was yesterday awarded $100,000 by the Accident Compensation Commission.
Personal injury lawyers said last night the case was significant and may have been the first of its kind in Australia. However, they said it was not a legal precedent because the compensation was awarded in an out of court settlement and the case did not proceed to final judgment by the Accident Compensation Tribunal.
Mr Glen Powell died in 1989 at the age of 33, from a melanoma on his scalp. He had been a bricklayer for most of his working life.
The Accident Compensation Tribunal will hold the money in trust for Mrs Jane Sandilands, of Portarlington, and her three children. She will have to apply to the tribunal for portions of the money, which will earn interest, when the need arises.
The tribunal considers each request before granting the dispersement of money.
The bricklayers' division of the Victorian State Building Trades Union, of which Mr Powell was a member, sought the compensation on behalf of Mrs Sandilands, who has remarried since her husband's death.
Mr Paul O'Connor, of the legal firm O'Connor & O'Connor, which represented the union and Mrs Sandilands, said the award might be the first of many. He said workers in outside employment who got melanomas might well be entitled to compensation.
Mr Robert Gorton, QC, and Mr Ian Fehring, who appeared for Mrs Sandilands, said radiation from the sun caused the skin cancer which led to his death.
The chief executive of the NSW Law Society, Mr Frank Riley , said he was not aware of a similar award being made in NSW. The payment to Mrs Sandilands was likely to extend beyond compensation tribunals and prompt legal action in the courts.
"It's likely to open up another area of potential liability," he said.
The executive director of the Australian Cancer Society, Mr Lawrence Wright, said the award was a "landmark decision".
"Every employer will have to rethink the question of how they protect their employees who work in the sun," he said.
"The council has been urging the Federal Government to give employers taxation relief if they provide sun protectants and proper clothing to employees."
In settling the case outside court, the Accident Compensation Commission maintained its denial of liability.
Last night, a spokesman for the commission said the case was the first of its kind to come before the commission. "It is to be expected that there will be more."
He said that for such a case to become a precedent it had to get to the verdict stage.
Mr O'Connor said Mrs Sandilands made the claim against six of her husband's employers, three of which were shire councils.
The employers are not out of pocket as it is the Accident Compensation Commission, to which they pay their WorkCare levies, or the workers'compensation insurers that are responsible for compensation payouts.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald
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