Despite having comprehensive policies & systems of work, the court found Woolworths had poorly implemented & were therefore liable for the aggravation of a pre-existing degenerative shoulder injury of an ex-employee.
WHS Policies Alone Is Not Enough – It was claimed to the QLD Court of Appeal that Woolworths breached a duty of care by subjecting the worker to a success rating system that pressured the workers to work faster or risk being sent home from shifts if their rating was lower than other employees.
The worker claims he performed more than 1600 lifts a day and had to achieve a 100% performance rating.
The Court found that though Woolworths had comprehensive policies and systems of work – they were poorly implemented and ignored by workers and managers.
The Court heard that the system of work involved frequent lifting away from the body of weights that did not align with the recommendations for the WorkSafe Victoria guidelines on safe manual order picking.
The decision was made that Woolworths were found to be liable for the worker’s injury claims and to pay $231,000 in damages.
Additionally, as part of these legal proceedings, it was found that by the Court that the worker’s pre-existing condition was sufficiently common for the risk of relevant injury to be foreseeable by the employer – and had a duty to take reasonable care to prevent risk of injury.
It is a reminder that even large companies with substantial policies, procedures and systems in place – are still liable for risk of injury should it not be properly implemented in consultation with workers and managers.
A few questions to ask of your business:
- Have you consulted and implemented your procedures and systems of work with your workers?
- When was the last time this was reviewed?
- Do you currently engage pre-employment screening for your workers to ensure they are capable of performing their tasks?
ABILITY GROUP can help you with your RTW, rehabilitation and WHS concerns and requirements. Contact us to discuss how.
Source: Smart Company
Title: Woolworths Ordered to Pay Injured Worker $230,000.
Read Time: 1 Minutes
Source: Supreme Court of Queensland
Title: Berhane v Woolworths Limited
Read Time: 10 minutes