SAFE SYSTEMS???

The desk tops varied in weight from about 10.8kg to 20kg.

To meet the time limits for the contract work, the employee often worked from 7am to 5pm. After the injury, he sued his employer in negligence.

In the District Court of Western Australia, the employee argued that the employer had failed to provide additional labour to assist him in lifting the desk tops and to warn him of the danger of physical injury from the work.

The Court found that the negligence on the employer’s part was established. The employer should have foreseen the risk of injury from the repetitive twisting and bending needed in the lifting and lowering of panels of an unwieldy shape.

Posters about the risk of back injury had been displayed in the factory and proved that the employer had been aware of the risk.

Yet, all the warnings in the posters were breached in the system of work which the employee had to follow.

Because of the pressing need to complete the contract work, the employer had given inadequate consideration to the risks involved in the system of work it had laid down.

There had been measures reasonably open to the employer to reduce or eliminate those risks, such as using two persons working together at each trimming bench and using pallet equalisers for lifting.

In awarding damages, the Court found that the employee was still capable of physical work, although limited to fairly light activity. He was capable of obtaining further technical qualifications and had shown an ability to achieve advancement in his employment.

He was awarded $257,373.

[Majchrowicz v Joyce Corporation. District Court of Western Australia.]