A witness at the coronial inquest into the death of Damian Crump says she was given the "silent treatment" as an employee of Ambulance Tasmania after submitting a workers compensation claim for injury she suffered on the job.
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The inquest is examining, among other things, the circumstances of Mr Crump's 2016 death, his alleged stealing of restricted drugs from Ambulance Tasmania (AT) drugstores, and systemic issues within the organisation related to this.
Evidence suggests that Mr Crump ended his life by ingesting a fatal combination of drugs taken from AT drugstores.
The witness said on Thursday that making a workers compensation claim, or simply asking for assistance from Ambulance Tasmania, would result in negative managerial treatment.
She also said there was no such thing as confidentiality within the organisation.
"From my own experience and the experiences that I have seen from others, once you ask for assistance or go off on workers comp, or if you are struggling at all, you get pushed to the side, you get the silent treatment, you get put on the bus," the witness said.
"If you speak up against something that is wrong, anything like that, you are put on the naughty bus and usually there is no getting off once you are on it."
This metaphorical bus tactic, she explained, was openly discussed by managers, where she was told she was on the bus.
She said when she went on workers compensation she was frozen out by her employees, meetings were cancelled and contact ceased.
"Basically, no-one would have anything to do with me ... my doctor had approved mental certificates and workers compensation ... I needed to meet with them to discuss the issue so I could progress and move forward and get back to work, and they refused."
The witness also said on Thursday that she could not comprehend how routine drug testing of paramedics did not occur.
"A; you have got paramedics that are exposed to a lot of trauma, B; they have access to drugs, C; they were driving ambulances at high speed, D; they are dealing with patients' lives ... they need to be clear headed, and being affected by drugs all the time is dangerous.
"I can't comprehend how they could not be doing that [drug testing] when so many other places do drug testing ... where staff are doing a lot less serious stuff."
The witness said that she had personally been accused of drug-taking while at work, and drug testing would have easily cleared her name.
"I was upset that it wasn't a choice to do that when the accused me."
