Essendon charged with workplace safety breaches over controversial supplements program
Essendon has been charged by WorkSafe Victoria. (AAP) AAP
Essendon's infamous 2012 supplements program has resulted in another blow, with the club charged with failing to provide a safe workplace.
WorkSafe has announced it has charged the club with two breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The two charges are for “failing to provide and maintain for employees a working environment that is, so far and reasonably practical, safe and without risks to health” and “failing to provide and maintain a system of work that is, so far and reasonably practical, safe and without risks to health”.
The Bombers will be forced to front the Melbourne Magistrate's Court over the charges and face a $305,000 fine.
It's understood no individual is facing punishment.
TodayThe details - made to the AFL’s anti-doping tribunal hearing - were published by News Limited in a 1294-page document, although none of the Bombers were identified, despite their names being revealed when they were cleared earlier this year.
The transcripts highlight the players’ confusion and pain, at times physical, as a result of the club’s 2012 injection program.
They were among the accounts of 45 players, including 11 who were not charged, despite admitting they received injections.
Several Bombers told ASADA investigators that they suffered hot flushes and intense pain as a result of the club’s supplements program with one player fearing he would miss a game with sore buttocks.
"It was like concrete going into your arse," was how one Bomber described the injections.
None of the players could recall specifically if they were injected with Thymosin Beta 4 – the drug they were charged with taking.
The documents also reveal that ASADA’s case was weakened when its key witness, whose identity remains a secret, said the Bombers were more like to have injected with TB500.
The transcripts also highlight the difficult task facing WADA when they appeal the not guilty finding at the Court of Arbitration for Sport later this year.
They reveal that ASADA’s case was weakened when its key witness said the Bombers were more like to have injected with TB500.
In his closing address to the tribunal, the Bombers’ lawyer David Grace, QC, referred to details from every player interview and said of ASADA’s case, "you can see how all over the place it was".
Dank had been unclear about what he was injecting the Bombers with, telling some players it was Thymosin or peptide AOD-9604 and others that the substances were vitamins and melatonin, according to Mr Grace.
A section of the document also linked Dank with the Geelong Cats during the club’s premiership era.
Former Essendon and Geelong fitness coach Dean Robinson said the Cats had "used the services of Mr Dank" with blood tests being carried out on the players and even suggestions from Robinson that players undergo have 'amino acids analysis'.
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