Employer found liable for a lumbar spine injury

Norsgaard v Aldi Stores (A Limited Partnership) [2022] QDC 260 – Jarro DCJ

22 November 2022

Background

The plaintiff suffered an injury to her lumbar spine while lifting three cartons of tomatoes for a low pallet to a sheft in an Aldi store on 28 April 2019.

Judgement

The employer was found liable in the matter.

The Court found that there was a risk of injury to an employee when manually handling products over 10kg.

The Court held that there should have been appropriate training to include instructions about the weights and maximum number of carboard trays the Plaintiff should have lifted at one time, as well as refresher training to ensure a proper understanding of what was being taught. His Honour did not consider the training unsatisfactory but did consider the training had features of concern – being the inadequate instruction about the weights a worker can lift at one time.

His Honour ultimately found that due to the inadequate training and instruction and supervision, Aldi Stores had breached its duty of care owed to the Plaintiff.

Damages were assessed at $162,390.97 (inclusive of the WorkCover’s statutory refund of $4,623.26), with no order as to costs.

A copy of the judgement can be found here.