"Seeing my daughter on fire, the sound of her screams, and the fear I felt in those moments are memories I will carry with me for the rest of my life," a mother told a court after her nine-year-old was severely burned during a visit to Questacon.
The sentence hearing for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, which oversees the Canberra science institution, was held in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday, August 25.
The department pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to comply with health and safety duties causing the risk of death or serious injury.
The girl suffered burns to her hands in July 2022 when she touched a plasma globe exhibit shortly after using alcohol-based hand sanitiser provided by Questacon.
CCTV footage played to the court showed a spark igniting as her hands made contact with the globe.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Patricia McEniery, the girl's mother said what was meant to be an enjoyable family trip from Darwin had become a nightmare.
"That day in July all those years ago remains the worst day of my life," she said.
"I can still hear the screams and remember the panic and the shocked faces of the people around us."
She said she remained "enormously grateful" to another visitor who used his jacket to extinguish the flames.
The mother said the trauma was compounded by a lack of immediate assistance, adding that the impact did not end when they returned to Darwin.
She said her daughter struggled to sleep due to pain, and with both hands bandaged, she was unable to write, brush her hair, or brush her own teeth.
While the physical pain and loss of independence were clear, the emotional and psychological impact was even harder to see, her mother said.
The court heard Questacon was aware of the risk associated with touching plasma globes after using alcohol-based hand sanitiser as early as February 2022.
Ms McEniery told the court an assessment identified the risk of fire as moderate unless specific controls, including staff monitoring and removing the sanitiser, were implemented.
"There were warning signs ... that just weren't picked up or appropriately addressed," she said.
Representing the department, barrister Carmen Currie said her client expressed "deep sorrow and regret" over the incident.
"There is no doubt that it was a distressing incident and one that has shocked everybody," she told the court.
Ms Currie admitted the department could have done more to prevent the incident, explaining it had favoured alcohol-based sanitiser over soapy water stations due to its efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, she said the department had not ignored the previously identified risk entirely, but rather made a mistake in its risk assessment.
Ms Currie also pointed out the girl had taken about five pumps of sanitiser, saturating her hands. She stressed she raised this detail only to highlight an unusual factor in the case, arguing the manner in which the sanitiser was used sat at the extreme end of what risk was reasonably foreseeable.
She said the department made genuine efforts to mitigate the risk after it was identified, though acknowledging those measures did not go far enough, adding there had since been a significant, considered response to the specific issue and to safety in general.
Following contention over the child's victim impact statement, which was intended to be handed up alongside her mother's, the matter was adjourned to allow an updated statement to be provided.
Magistrate Ian Temby will hand down the sentence in September.
