A disability support provider has been fined $1.8 million after admitting serious shortfalls in staff training that led to a vulnerable Indigenous woman dying from burns after being given a bath.
The Federal Court on Wednesday ordered LiveBetter, the largest disability services provider in regional NSW, to pay the $1.8 million penalty.
“Almost the maximum penalty has been awarded with respect to the specific contraventions closely aligned with Ms Lucas’s tragic, untimely death,” Justice Elizabeth Raper said.
The firm’s contraventions, including failing to comply with standards imposed by the National Disability Insurance Scheme, were extremely serious, the judge said.
“LiveBetter’s failures were antithetical to the stated object of the statutory scheme, to protect and prevent Ms Lucas from harm arising from unsafe supports and services provided under the scheme,” she said.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission sued the company in March 2023.
Both parties told a hearing a year later that they had agreed on the $1.8 million penalty during mediation talks.
Lucas was non-verbal with thin skin, conditions that left her vulnerable to high temperatures as she was unable to communicate pain.
One of her carers ran a bath at her family’s home on February 2 and checked the water with her hand, believing it was “fine”, according to an agreed statement of facts.
The support workers realised the bath was too hot when Lucas began to move and vocalise in an unusual way.
Her skin was peeling when she was removed from the steaming bath and a control panel showed the water temperature was 60C, rather than the usual maximum setting of 42C.
LiveBetter has since introduced training and protocols around bathing, including the use of a thermometer.
At March’s hearing, LiveBetter’s barrister David Lloyd SC apologised to Lucas’s family, saying his client had co-operated with police and the commission to ensure the incident would never be repeated.
The firm has been ordered to pay the NDIS commissioner’s legal costs of running the case.
For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76) or call Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905.
