A former storeman at Legrand Australia Pty Ltd has been awarded $653,176.11 following his work injury. Legrand Australia is an electrical installation and digital building infrastructures specialist.
On 21 March 2016, Mr Narayan was injured at work when he was required to lift a carton of returned stock that was beside him from the pallet to the bench. The box was a cardboard carton and contained smoke alarms and their batteries. Mr Narayan bent forward to lift the box, which had a loose bottom, and placed his hand under the carton to ensure that the smoke alarms did not fall out through the bottom of the carton. He then twisted his torso towards the trolley to place the carton onto the trolley. In doing so Mr Narayan sustained injury to his back.
The NSW District Court accepted that there was a breach of duty of care by the employer. The court concluded that had the carton been located higher off the ground, more than 15cm, the risk of injury would have been dramatically reduced. The court also found that had Mr Narayan been provided with a scooter that could lift the pallet to a similar height as the bench and/or had the plaintiff been appropriately trained and supervised in the safer methods of manual handling, and not been told that he needed to work faster, the accident would not have occurred.
Mr Narayan was 24 at the time of the injury and the court found that he is now incapacitated to work. Only economic loss and superannuation can be claimed in a work injury damages claim due to the provisions of the Workplace Injury and Management Act 1998 (NSW).
The full decision can be read here: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/174c2ff7d7d219f239c71915
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