Case studies
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Showing 37-48 of 132 results with 1 filter
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High duty of care on employers extends to one-off simple tasks
Witherington v Lev’s Fabrications Pty Ltd [2014] QDC 266 21 November 2014. This case highlights the high duty of care placed on employers to provide workers with a safe place of work, safe systems of work, appropriate training and to assess the risk involved in all aspects of an employee’s work.
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Employer not negligent for trivial accident
Chapman ATS University of Southern Queensland Student Guild, 12 August 2010. Manual handling case study where a cleaner was injured performing additional duties. This case study demonstrates an employer will not necessarily be found negligent for a trivial workplace incident.
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Workplace assault involving issues of foreseeability and causation and the employer's knowledge
Colwell v Top Cut Foods Pty Ltd ACN 010 650 281 [2018] QDC, 27 June 2018. The Plaintiff alleged that preceding events put the employer on notice of a possible assault which then imposed a duty of care on the employer to implement preventative measures to prevent the foreseeable risk.
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Injury of an Employee due to an unsafe system of work
Russell v Hancock Farm Company Pty Ltd [2013] QDC 129, 14 June 2013. The system of work used was unsafe and a breach of the employer’s duty of care. Even though other employees used the system without incident, it does not mean that an employer does not need to take precautions when an injury is foreseeable.
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Chronic pre-existing injuries and their effect on damages
Phillips v MCG Group Pty Ltd, 8 June 2012. A worker suffered from a debilitating pre-existing injury but managed a spasmodic but relatively unrestricted working life. When the worker suffered a further workplace injury that rendered him incapable of further employment, the question posed to the court was as to how much of his future economic loss could be attributed to the employer.
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Routine tasks not posing foreseeable risk of injury
Fatnowna v Acril Quality Testing Services Pty Ltd [unreported] 25 September 2015. In this case the District Court found the employer not to be in breach of its duty to its employees.
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Routine tasks not posing foreseeable risk of injury
Rudd v Starbucks Coffee Company (Australia) Pty Ltd [2015] QDC 232, 22 September 2015. In this case the District Court found the employer not be in breach of its duty to its employees.
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Employers need to enforce workers to wear PPE
Tomkins v Kemp Meats Pty Ltd [2013] QDC 184 17 July 2013. For employers, the case serves as an important reminder on the need to enforce the requirement for workers to wear personal protective equipment.
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Relationship between two separate injuries
Hartin v Rigel Constructions Pty Ltd [2013] QSC 320 21 November 2013. The case turned upon the extent to which the first incident caused the derangement of the vertebral disc, and the relationship between the injury sustained in the first and second incident, and the loss and damage caused by the first incident.
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No obligation to warn of obvious risk
Heywood v Commercial Electrical Pty Ltd [2013] QSC 52, 11 March 2013. The duty imposed on employers is to take reasonable care to avoid injury to workers. An employer does not have an obligation to avoid all risks by all reasonably affordable means. The obviousness of the risk and a reasonable expectation that workers will take care of their own safety must be taken into account.
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Prior injuries and future economic loss
Symons v The Haggarty Group Pty Ltd, 23 March 2011. This case study highlights how the court may consider if there was a reasonable way the employer could have avoided the risk of injury, and how this may affect the outcome.