Articles

Another article from our friends at OHS Alert. A recent judgement from the NSW Court of Appeal determined how a company that created a "hidden danger" when it loaded a truck is more liable for a worker's serious injuries than the worker's employer in a $5.75 million damages case.

The Court ordered the company, RFI (Aust) Pty Ltd, to pay 75% of the agreed damages bill.

The Allied Overnight Express Pty Ltd storeman was seriously injured back in March 2010 when two 30kg rolls of underlay that he was unloading from an RFI truck fell and struck his shoulders and neck.

At the time, the Supreme Court found the rolls were usually stacked and found RFI and Allied were equally at fault, as RFI failed to provide a restraining brace for the rolls that fell, and Allied failed to ensure workers made "an accurate or exhaustive visual inspection of the top of the load".

The worker appealed, arguing RFI alone was negligent.

RFI didn't dispute liability, but argued that Allied was the more negligent party.

But Justice Barrett said that it was "plainly unreasonable" to find that RFI and Allied were equally liable and suggests poor risk management was to blame.

Justice Barrett said "Storemen opening the doors of vehicles of the relevant type were entitled to expect that all proper restraints indicated by the nature of the load would be in place.

"And Allied, in providing a safe system of work, was entitled to expect that RFI would take care to put such restraints in place and that the risk that in fact materialised would be a remote risk."

He went on to say "RFI effectively created a hidden danger that was masked by the creation of the false sense of security engendered by the absence of the fifth bar".

He found RFI and Allied were 75 per cent and 25 per cent respectively liable.

For more information about this case go here Grima v RFI (Aust) Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 345 (13 October 2014)

Lessons for us?

This is another case where employers are encouraged to work collaboratively with their clients and customers throughout the “work” chain of where tasks are carried out. Where your worker’s work methods are impacted by the actions of another Employer it’s imperative that you work with them to identify all potential hazards. This is sometimes easier said than done! Under WHS each employer has a safety obligation for employees and non-employees. You are a “non-employee” to your clients/customers. Here are some tips on how to manage this:

• Identify all high risk tasks within your operation – not all tasks require collaboration.
• For those tasks that are deemed high risk in your operation should have some form of collaboration where required.
• Seek out a safe work method statement or risk assessment report from the client/customer where your workers are exposed to that hazard.
• If you are unable to obtain documents, seek an opportunity to attend that workplace with your worker to assess the task/s.
• Share your findings with the client/customers especially if they are required to make modifications at their end.

What do you do if they don’t make changes? Do the best you can to equip your employees with as much knowledge in safe work processes and work your way through the risk control hierarchy to determine the best way to manage this risk as is “reasonably practicable”.

If you are unable to manage the risk to a level that you feel comfortable in your business and your workers remain exposed to a significant risk – you may need to decide is it worth it?

Any help you need with risk management you can always access our Safety Consultant who is there to equip you with the knowledge to manage workplace safety. Call us on 9222 7400 or email us. Find out more about our Injury Prevention Services here.