Workplace bullying has resulted in the demotion of a Whyalla senior fire officer.
Part-time Whyalla Fire Station officer George Dunbar lost an appeal at a disciplinary hearing over his demotion after being reported for making derogatory statements regarding female colleagues.
He was demoted after stating that female staff were "oxygen-thieving wastes of space" or "OTWOS".
He was also reported to have referred to women as "cannon fodder", made remarks about the size of their bottoms and allegedly stated that they should "self-explode at a certain age".
Mr Dunbar was demoted from his role at Whyalla Fire Station, where he had been a "retained station officer" since 2004.
Mr Dunbar's appeal was heard by an Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) panel.
The panel heard that he regularly offended female colleagues in the workplace.
In an interview, Mr Dunbar said he used the "OTWOS" term in retaliation to alleged sexist comments made about him by a female firefighter.
Mr Dunbar said he was unaware that his remarks about the size of female firefighters' bottoms caused offence and said the remarks were in retaliation to comments made about the size of his stomach.
An investigation was carried out into Mr Dunbar's behaviour after a female firefighter found some of his comments "very offensive".
In his appeal, Mr Dunbar's council, Nic Kernahan, stated that "there had been a culture of bad behaviour in this particular station for some considerable time".
Mr Kernahan also tendered a statement from a female firefighter who said inappropriate comments had been made by others in the workplace and that it was common for sexist remarks to be made.
The commission found it was "an aggravating feature of this matter that he was the senior officer at the station and rather than discouraging bullying or offensive remarks, he was a major perpetrator".
The IRC stated that an interview with Mr Dunbar showed he had "an initial strong denial of bullying" and "failed to understand the seriousness of what offence had been caused".
The commission stated that "the appellant was for the purposes of Service Administrative Procedure no 35 in the category of supervisor or manager" and that "as such he had specific responsibilities to be vigilant in ensuring the implementation of this particular Fire Service policy."
In accordance with the Act Retained Station Officer Mr Dunbar was demoted to the rank of Senior Firefighter.
Mr Dunbar will be ineligible to apply for promotion for a period of two years.
The IRC also heard that Mr Dunbar had not officially issued a written apology to the female firefighters involved in the matter, however, he had apologised orally.
MFS assistant chief officer Glenn Benham denied Mr Kernahan's claim of "bad behaviour" at the local fire station and said the matter had been treated seriously.
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