The NSW Supreme Court has found an employer liable where an employee who while travelling home from his workplace suffered severe injuries. The Supreme Court said they were satisfies the company’s duty of care extended beyond its employees’ work works and workplace.
The employee’s legal team successfully argued the accident was caused by ‘work induced fatigue’ and argued that the business did not offer risk management of fatigue induced traffic accident. The employee’s accident occurred 259 kilometre’s (approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes) from the workplace and the employee suffered several fractures and a brain injury.
Employer insisted the business implemented procedures to manage and minimise the risks. The Court also found that the employer failed to “insist” that the employee submit a personal travel management plan included in the fatigue procedures of the company.
The decision was passed on 30 June 2022 and the employer was ordered to pay $1,130,782.28.
Per the HRD article below, business leaders need to consider:
- Employees’ work and schedule to identify staff members are more “at-risk” for health or safety concerns
- Offer adequate support and resources to prevent any incident
- Enforce employment requirements in that if employees are required to travel for work, closely monitor that they submit a personal travel management plan to ensure they will not feel fatigued and would be “fit for work”
- Implement processes to periodically check the wellbeing of employees both physically and psychologically
- Ensure a safe and healthy work environments where employees in each shift can have a reasonable rest to help minimise risk of fatigue and other workplace-related injuries
Source: Human Resources Director
Title: Supreme Court favors employee in million-dollar lawsuit over ‘work-induced fatigue’
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