Allegations that an employer failed to undertake a risk assessment and prepare a documented system of work are a feature of most common law work claims.
The duty owed by retailers and shopping centre operators to prevent slips and falls is a very high one. However, the recent decision of Carnemolla demonstrates that where a defendant has a good defence supported by a detailed incident report they can still win.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased an already significant trend of workers working from home. This blurs the line between what occurs in the course of a worker’s employment and their personal life.
After Michael Hill Jewellery at Westfield Helensvale was the target of an attempted theft, an employee has been awarded more than $270,000 in damages for injuries she sustained preventing it.
The decision is a reminder that the onus is on the injured worker to prove that their work was a ‘significant contributing factor’, not just a mere medical possibility.
The emergence of coronavirus (COVID-19) has been one of the biggest news stories in 2020. It is causing chaos in parts of the world and
Manual handling injuries make up the largest cohort of workers’ compensation claims for serious injuries. They are also usually very difficult to defend because most employers do not keep good records about the training and supervision of safe manual handling practices.
A Brisbane Catholic Education teacher injured while on a school trip to Vanuatu has had her appeal dismissed by the Industrial Court of Queensland.
The Industrial Court of Queensland has recently upheld a decision of Woolworths to reject a claim for compensation on the basis that it was a continuum of an earlier injury.
In Scone Race Club Ltd v Cottom [2019] NSWCA 260, the New South Wales Court of Appeal has found that the Scone Race Club was not liable for an injury sustained by an employee while emptying a bin on race day.
Often in slip and fall cases, claimants allege they must have slipped on a spillage, relying on nothing more than the fact they have slipped.
In Walker v Newlands Northern Underground Pty Ltd [2019] QSC 96, Justice Crow calculated future economic loss by discounting a discounted figure. Will this novel approach become the norm in Rockhampton?