{"id":842690,"date":"2026-08-04T01:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842690\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T01:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:56:15","slug":"injured-trainer-to-return-40k-compensation-to-greyhound-racing-sa-tribunal-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842690\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured trainer to return $40k compensation to Greyhound Racing SA, tribunal rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

A greyhound trainer who was struck by a 28-kilogram “mechanical lure” has been ordered to return $40,000 in compensation to South Australia’s peak racing body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The SA Employment Tribunal awarded the sum to the trainer last year after Safework SA secured a criminal conviction against Greyhound Racing SA [GRSA].<\/p>\n

But GRSA has appealed the decision, with the same tribunal now finding the compensation had been given without proper processes being followed under the Sentencing Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tribunal has also found GRSA’s fine should be reduced from $255,000 to $180,000, as the organisation should have received the maximum benefit for entering an early guilty plea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No compensation case submitted<\/p>\n

The tribunal said the fine and compensation relate to injuries sustained by a trainer who used an unauthorised shortcut to exit a racing start area in September 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This put him “in close proximity to the mechanical lure whilst trials were occurring”, causing him to be struck while it travelled at around 70 kilometres per hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Greyhounds<\/p>\n

Greyhounds chasing a mechanical lure at the Angle Park race track. (Supplied: Greyhound Racing SA)<\/p>\n

The incident left him with “fractures, broken teeth and mouth lacerations which required hospitalisation and two lots of surgery”, according to the court decision handed down last week.<\/p>\n

The tribunal found GRSA liable for the injuries in 2025 as it “had not undertaken an adequate risk assessment”.<\/p>\n

Despite this, on appeal, the tribunal said neither the trainer nor Safework SA formally submitted a case for compensation in the original court proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a requirement under the Sentencing Act\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There was no evidence before the court in relation to the quantum of [the trainer’s] loss and expense,” the judgement from last week said.<\/p>\n

“No representations were made on the issue of compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“In the absence of those things, the court did not have a proper basis on which to award compensation.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The tribunal found Greyhound Racing SA “had not undertaken an adequate risk assessment”. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Fine total slashed\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November 2025, the tribunal handed down a $300,000 fine to be paid to Safework SA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It originally ruled a 15 per cent discount was “all that could be justified” as GRSA had refused to voluntarily compensate the trainer and offer a direct apology.<\/p>\n

It left the organisation with a $255,000 penalty.<\/p>\n

On appeal, the tribunal found GRSA’s “failure to contact [the victim]” was based on legal advice around a separate damages claim the victim was pursuing.<\/p>\n

It reduced the fine total to $180,000 and ordered Safework SA to pay GRSA’s legal fees but upheld the criminal conviction against the racing body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GRSA declined to comment further on the court’s decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A greyhound trainer who was struck by a 28-kilogram “mechanical lure” has been ordered to return $40,000 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,25671,1783,36987,49817,414795,3899,414797,25613,1294,414796,85,36988,37487],"class_list":["post-842690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-award","tag-compensation","tag-fine","tag-greyhound-racing","tag-grsa","tag-injury","tag-lure","tag-race-start","tag-risk","tag-safework-sa","tag-sports","tag-trainer","tag-victim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}